Art Therapy with Neurological Conditions by Liebmann Marian; Weston Sally; Ashley Jackie

Author:Liebmann, Marian; Weston, Sally; Ashley, Jackie [Weston, Sally and Liebmann, Marian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857009128
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Published: 2015-03-01T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 8.3 The war (see colour plate).

Figure 8.3 depicts Dan’s personal conflict and war, where neither he nor anyone else could defeat the enemy by controlling his seizures, or win the war by curing epilepsy. There was a true sense of not wanting to continue with this fruitless battle that could not be won. His seizures being resistant to medical intervention, the narrative was a fruitless collection of battles, events and skirmishes, and the recurrent experience of the overall war against epilepsy and its negative effects on his life. Part of Dan wanted to live in peace and master some part of his life that did not involve the epilepsy, while another part of him wanted to ‘stop the condition, win the battle against it and eradicate it from my life’.

Dan used images borrowed from the film Apocalypse Now (see Figure 8.3), of travelling down a river on a long, secret, unclear and difficult mission, to understand better the often hidden, recurrent uncertainty of feeling out of control. This resonated with his own journey that he faced on a daily basis. This image was returned to many times, and worked as an ongoing indicator of how Dan felt about himself, his wellbeing and ability to move forward in his life. It helped him reach a willingness to go on a long, difficult journey despite the anxiety he felt, to resolve his conflicts and emotions.

This narrative allowed us the opportunity to uncover many personal and silent adverse assumptions. We were able to acknowledge setbacks and recognise the many changed pieces of his identity. These included inferior self-beliefs involved in the deep and personal battle with his sense of self. His own emotional perception of the medical diagnosis, and the social reality of living with the debilitating unpredictable effects on his quality of life, were what truly mattered to his sense of wellbeing. Despite all this, Dan needed to focus on coping with his condition and what might still be possible ‘while still having to hit the deck’.

This offered us a chance to understand the complex efforts to normalise the daily aspects of his changed identity, self-image and shame associated with the lack of control. His shame was often felt as a running battle and a hurdle to be overcome as a result of the sudden changes in his bodily functions, his low self-image and loss of pieces of his identity, either left in limbo or frozen. Art-making became a verbal and nonverbal indicator of his emotions about these issues, and he made several images on these themes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.