Summary: Healing Trauma Through Art

Healing trauma through art (Kuban, 2015) is an article that reviews the use of art therapy as a method to explore the meanings of traumatic experiences of children and as form of healing. The article introduces art therapy by discussing the historical relationship between art and well-being. Past physiologists and therapists have used art as a means of exploring trauma of children, allowing children to address and deal with emotional distress, and building rapport and empathy with patients (Kuban, 2015). Today, art is used as a tool for assessing children’s emotional, behavioral, and social development, as well as therapy to analyze and communicate traumatic experiences. The article examines the meaning and science behind trauma. Trauma is a painful experience the affects the emotional and survival parts of the brain (Kuban, 2015). Thus, children experience difficulties coping, thinking rationally, and communicating their traumatic experiences. Art enables children to access and illustrate their memories, feelings, sense of self, and experiences. Children benefit from drawing as a safe form of communication, which allows adults to understand and develop an open dialogue with children (Kuban, 2015). The article includes real-life art therapy sessions and what the patient experienced in relation to their drawings. One of …show more content…
There is a connection between what the art reveals and how it opens up a line of communication for the child and adult. Art benefits the child by providing a medium to express and communicate traumatic experiences. It also helps a child seek self development, reduce physical stress, and improve methods of dealing with traumatic memories. It also benefits the social worker by providing meaningful approaches to address the child, ask questions, build a trusting relationship, and develop further healing