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    Art Therapy Shame and Addiction

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    Art therapy can be used to treat substance abuse and addiction, especially when the underlying cause is feelings of shame. By using art media and the creative process, art therapy allows clients to explore and reconcile emotions, improve self-awareness, manage addictive behaviors, and increase self-esteem - all of which can enhance addiction recovery programs. Shame is often at the root of addictions, as people use substances to numb painful feelings of shame. Art therapy provides a way for those in recovery to communicate these shameful feelings and work through the denial and emotions surrounding addiction. Integrating art therapy and other creative therapies into treatment programs can help addicts reconnect with themselves and others on the road to recovery.

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    Art Therapy Shame and Addiction

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    Art therapy can be used to treat substance abuse and addiction, especially when the underlying cause is feelings of shame. By using art media and the creative process, art therapy allows clients to explore and reconcile emotions, improve self-awareness, manage addictive behaviors, and increase self-esteem - all of which can enhance addiction recovery programs. Shame is often at the root of addictions, as people use substances to numb painful feelings of shame. Art therapy provides a way for those in recovery to communicate these shameful feelings and work through the denial and emotions surrounding addiction. Integrating art therapy and other creative therapies into treatment programs can help addicts reconnect with themselves and others on the road to recovery.

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    Art therapy can be used to treat substance abuse and addiction, especially when the underlying cause is feelings of shame. By using art media and the creative process, art therapy allows clients to explore and reconcile emotions, improve self-awareness, manage addictive behaviors, and increase self-esteem - all of which can enhance addiction recovery programs. Shame is often at the root of addictions, as people use substances to numb painful feelings of shame. Art therapy provides a way for those in recovery to communicate these shameful feelings and work through the denial and emotions surrounding addiction. Integrating art therapy and other creative therapies into treatment programs can help addicts reconnect with themselves and others on the road to recovery.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    481 views7 pages

    Art Therapy Shame and Addiction

    Uploaded by

    api-302256950
    Art therapy can be used to treat substance abuse and addiction, especially when the underlying cause is feelings of shame. By using art media and the creative process, art therapy allows clients to explore and reconcile emotions, improve self-awareness, manage addictive behaviors, and increase self-esteem - all of which can enhance addiction recovery programs. Shame is often at the root of addictions, as people use substances to numb painful feelings of shame. Art therapy provides a way for those in recovery to communicate these shameful feelings and work through the denial and emotions surrounding addiction. Integrating art therapy and other creative therapies into treatment programs can help addicts reconnect with themselves and others on the road to recovery.

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    of 7
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    The key takeaways are that art therapy can be used to treat addiction, especially addiction stemming from feelings of shame, and that it is considered an integrative therapy that can enhance other treatment programs for addiction and mental health.

    Art therapy is a mental health profession that uses art media and the creative process to help clients explore their feelings, reconcile emotions, foster self-awareness, and improve well-being. It can be used to treat substance abuse and addictions by providing a relaxing outlet to help people realize improvements in functioning, reduce anxiety, manage behaviors, and increase self-esteem.

    The text states that shame is the base for addictions, as people who feel toxic shame that they are inherently 'bad' are more vulnerable to addiction as a way to hide from stress and pain by numbing their mind. Denial, which is considered a primary symptom of addiction, also helps avoid feelings of shame.

    Running head: Art & Shame

    Art Therapy, Shame and Addiction


    Melanie A. Keiser
    Union Institute and University

    ART & SHAME

    2
    Abstract

    Art therapy used to treat substance abuse, addictions and especially addiction stemming from
    original feelings of shame. Integrative therapies enhance programs toward recovery from
    addiction and mental health.

    ART & SHAME

    3
    Art Therapy, Shame and Addiction

    By definition, Art therapy is a mental health profession in which clients, facilitated by


    the art therapist, use art media, the creative process, and the resulting artwork to explore their
    feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions,
    develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety, and increase self-esteem. A goal
    in art therapy is to improve or restore a clients functioning and his or her sense of personal wellbeing. (American Art Therapy Association) This having been made clear, the intention now is to
    explore how all of these benefits would fit into addiction recovery and enhance any program.
    Making art, in and of itself, is a relaxing activity. Adding intention to help realize any of the
    improvements listed above is the piece that makes art therapeutic.
    Addiction is a word for having lost control of the choice to do a specific activity or abuse
    a substance. When there is no choice left, the addict ends up losing all relationships except the
    one maintained with the addiction. Addictions can be related to gambling, sex, food or
    substances. The focus in this case, will be more on substance or alcohol abuse for this
    exploration. Marie Wilson in the Handbook of Art Therapy, explains that shame is the base for
    addictions. People who feel shame, not for something they did that they feel remorse about, but
    shame that is toxic and makes a person believe that it is what I am (Malchiodi 2003). People
    who feel shame like that are more likely to be vulnerable to addiction. Especially addiction that
    enables the person to hide from the stress and pain of life by altering their state of mind or
    numbing it. Strongly connected to the mechanism of shame is the mechanism of denial, which
    is considered a primary symptom of chemical dependence. Denial is the inability to correctly
    perceive and unacceptable or painful reality. Denial protects the ego of the addicted individual
    from the thereat of inadequacy (Thombs, 1999), and is used to manage the shame...The addicted

    ART & SHAME

    person's struggle to avoid recognition of their powerlessness over their addiction is also their
    struggle to avoid feelings of shame. (Malchiodi, 2003) People with addictions need not only
    support when a decision is made to stop partaking in the substance or alcohol abuse, but they
    need outlets to express the process and communicate feelings they have during this very difficult
    and sometimes physically painful, and always emotionally painful process. Art therapy at the
    very least would be stress reducing.
    Motivational Interviewing in empathic Rogerian style are being used and tested as a new
    way of treating addiction, as opposed to the Alcoholics Anonymous model. The Alcoholics
    Anonymous model with 12 steps beginning with the tearing down of the ego and admitting that
    they are powerless over the addiction. Motivational Interviewing as an alternative, works toward
    helping to bring about choice to the individual. Miller (1996) has reflected on why
    nonconfrontive MI may be effective: The voluntary road away from the gratification cycles of
    addiction seems to involve the human frontal cortex, the processes of valuing and choosing and
    deciding. Models for effective and lasting change may have more to do with processes
    colloquially described as making up ones mind than with counterconditioning and skill
    training. (p. 841) (Horay, 2006) Interestingly, art making also enables an individual with an
    addiction to discover and explore the choices involved. Whether one is deciding what media to
    use, or creatively deciding what materials to gather, making of the art, perhaps changing what
    has been made, incorporating tools, all of these are choices that lead to a different outcome.
    Artmaking, no matter what media or directive, generally involves utilizing those same cognitive
    processes of valuing, choosing, and deciding. (Horay, 2006) When one has choices, and is
    able to reflect upon having choices by by taking part in the choosing, it brings forth possibilities
    to realize that there are other options in life than being dependent on substances or alcohol.

    ART & SHAME

    Since the creative arts are accustomed to speaking the language of the soul, they have
    more immediate access to deeper forms of psychological pain such as shame. Often preverbal in
    origin, shameful feelings flow more easily via imagery and symbolism. The creative process
    itself is self-affirming, life giving and inherently shame reducing and corrective. (Malchiodi,
    2006) Having discussion shame leaving individuals vulnerable to becoming addicts, it is
    important to note that the addiction itself causes shame as well. Victims of addiction typically
    will keep it a secret and hide that part of life from loved ones as well as society for as long as
    possible. This creates deep issues and feelings of isolation. Feeling isolation tends to close
    individuals emotionally. All of these issues snowball, along with whatever effect the addiction
    has directly on the actions or behavior as well as health, mental and physical. Addiction as we
    can see, is very involved and could possibly take a long time and hard work to untangle the
    physical, mental, emotional, familial, and possibly financial harm that has been done over a long
    period of time. Typically an addict will not seek out help or admit they have a problem unless
    they are forced to because of legal implications or they have hit rock bottom and their life has
    been destroyed because of the addiction. Many use the 12 step Alcoholics Anonymous or
    Narcotics Anonymous, some may go into a rehabilitation facility where they may use several
    programs at once, including therapy. Alternative options are becoming more and more prevelant,
    especially in facilities where the addict is an inpatient and needs other activities to fill the time.
    Some other forms of alternative therapy or techniques to assist an individual in becoming
    healthier in mind and body are meditation practice, mindfulness practice, acupuncture, reiki,
    yoga for relaxation and health, as well as the creative therapies. Creative therapy or Expressive
    Art Therapy includes includes dance, movement, drama, poetry and journaling, play therapy as

    ART & SHAME


    well as art. Creative interventions have been formalized through the disciplines of art therapy, music
    therapy, dance/movement therapy, drama therapy or psychodrama, poetry therapy, and play therapy,
    including sandtray therapy. (Malchiodi, 2014) Within the context of psychotherapy, counseling,
    rehabilitation, or medicine, the expressive therapies referred to as integrative when various arts are
    used purposely in combination of other treatments. This is why when it comes to shame and addiction,
    whether the AA model is being used, or other modern methods of rehabilitating individuals such as
    Motivational Interviewing and other approaches, the integrative therapies such as Art Therapy can
    enhance any of these programs. Art Therapy can be a way for addicts to rejoin the world again by
    communicating shame and denial and work toward communicating emotions that will release negative
    aspects of the addiction, making it possible to begin the recovery and healing process in a safe way.

    ART & SHAME

    7
    References

    American Art Therapy Association (2013). What is Art Therapy PDf. Retrieved from http://Web
    addresshttp://www.arttherapy.org/upload/whatisarttherapy.pdf

    Hanes, Michael J. "'Face-to-Face' with Addiction: The Spontaneous Production of Self-Portraits in Art Therapy." Art
    Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association 24.1 (2007). Educators Reference Complete.
    Web. 24 June 2015.

    Malchiodi, C. A. (Ed.). (2003). Handbook of Art Therapy. New York, NY, USA: Guilford Press. Retrieved
    from http://www.ebrary.com

    Malchiodi, Cathy A.(2014)Creative Arts Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy.Here is a basic guide to
    creative, brain-wise approaches to therapy.Psychology Today: Retrieved from
    https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/arts-and-health/201406/creative-arts-therapy-andexpressive-arts-therapy on June 25, 2015.

    Tombs, (1999) http://proxy.myunion.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? id=GALE


    %7CA174309108&v=2.1&u=vol_m761j&it=r&p=PROF&sw=w&asid=053480233059b969dc7608fc9aa694eb
    Retrieved June 2015 from ebrary Union Institute library.

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