Using Art as Therapy

"Shame Box" Front. Mixed Media- box, acrylics, pincushion, pins, and paper.

 I haven't posted in a couple of weeks due to an unprecedented amount of work stress, however, I plan to do more posts over the next few days. Actually work stress, or any stress really, leads nicely into today's topic. Art can be not only relaxing and stress relieving, but therapeutic as well. Similar to journaling, it is a way to explore your thoughts and feelings, delve into them, or help get them out. I often feel that when I am ruminating over something, writing, painting, or drawing about it almost has the effect of removing the nasty, circular thoughts from my head and transferring them onto the paper or canvas I'm working on. It can be very relieving. Here is one example of a piece of work that combines 3-D art and writing, and can be continually modified to be used for whatever you need it to be at the time.

Back

This is my "Shame Box"- I purchased a cheap little jewelry or gift box from good will (a cigar box also
works great for this) and painted it with acrylics. The outside was originally supposed to represent the way I want the world to see me, with the inside being the way I see myself (also an interesting project), but instead it ended up being more of a study on shame and negative self-talk. I used magazine clippings to add text- "uncensored" in big letters over the top, and a bunch of little phrases like "secret revealed," "delves into her dark side," "intricate, though painful," "trouble at heart," "broken," and on the front, where the lock would be, simply, "beware," as if to warn the viewer that what they may see inside will not be pretty.

Inside

 The inside is painted in muddy browns and blacks to represent the "ugliness" of what it contains. Yet, contrasting from the implied ugliness of the words on the outside, the words on the inside are encouraging ones. In one corner of the lid it says "expect brilliance". The other side says "ask the tough questions." The questions in the box are from The Work of Byron Katie, which I cut from an Oprah magazine article about her. The four questions from her book Loving What Is are designed to challenge destructive thought patterns and negative self-talk.

Inside detail

Three of the four questions are inside ("who would you be without the thought?" is the text on the side in the lower part of the picture below). The object inside is a home-made pincushion (my sewing skills are not stellar), and on it I pinned thoughts or beliefs about myself that I either believed at the time or have believed over the years and am still trying to overcome. 

Inside detail

Thus the box both presents the ugliness and self-criticism that exists within me, and in doing so, challenges it. It's sort of "shrine" format gives the thoughts the weight of importance they can have on me, and shows that, by putting them on paper, they are only thoughts. They are no longer truths- they are only words on a paper. To be honest, I made this a few months ago and I don't even know what I wrote on them. I think I'll open them now!

I just read them and two of them still hit me emotionally, so I know those are things I need to still work on. However, three just made me feel sort of curious and thoughtful. I don't feel that I need to keep those in there because they don't have the emotional weight of a harmful negative belief.

I recommend doing projects like this as therapy (I'll post more!) and definitely recommend Byron Katie's book for learning how to question and challenge negative beliefs. She has a whole system, and you can find worksheet and such on her website. Her personal story is an interesting one as well.

I have to give a shout out to Kerri, a fellow therapist who uses art as therapy (yeah I know there's an easier way to say that but we wouldn't want to anger the Art Therapists, who get to put their titles in capitals). Kerri often uses boxes in her art, usually to represent the feelings, beliefs, and emotions one tries to hide. This project was partially her idea, and I'll totally post some of her stuff if she'll let me!