Creative expression is an important part of the healing process. Creativity brings life into a dying soul, healing to a shattered heart, purpose to a wandering life, and excitement to a boring day.

Through creative forms of expression, deeply hidden thoughts / feelings / memories can emerge, become overt, be expressed, processed, and resolved. This process allows those hidden hurts to be healed. The result is a healthier, happier person who has a renewed sense of freedom.

The actual therapeutic benefits of creative expression are many:

Lifts depression
Creates hope
Allows for emotional healing and emotional growth
Provides meaning, a sense of purpose, and a sense of direction
Increases productive activity
Gives a positive sense of mastery and power
Increases relaxation, decreases tension, decreases anxiety
Enhances thinking skills and problem solving abilities
Uses both sides of the brain, thus develops effective brain wave patterns
Improves physical benefits such as stronger immune system, increased blood flow, hormonal balance, physical healing
Increases self esteem and self worthiness
Promotes positive change and growth
Decreases destructive addictive behavior
Increases self confidence
Promotes self understanding, self forgiveness, and self acceptance

For trauma survivors, using the creative side of the brain is an especially important aspect of healing. So much of the abuse does not make logical sense, and even with the passing of time, the resulting confusion makes it difficult to resolve such twisted and backwards or inconceivable events. It often feels nearly impossible to find the right words to express how the abuse felt, to sort out the mishmash, to describe the splitting and internal breaking, or to communicate about the internal worlds. Because the abuse was often unfathomable and so far from any “normal” healthy reality, to discuss it only with “intellectual methods” leaves enormously gaping wounds and holes.

Using creative means of expression, such as art, music, voice, dance, movement, writing, films, videos, photography, psychodrama, etc. will help to make those “unspeakable horrors” enormously clear, visible, audible, and understandable. The creative side of the brain can say and show what it knows and feels about the painful emotional reality without being so tremendously restricted by verbal or intellectual limitations.

Dissociative people have long sense learned how to split away and dissociate intense emotions. They learn to do this so well, that after years of dissociating, they wonder if they can ever feel again. Furthermore, the re-gaining of emotional feelings is difficult, because everything feels way too intense and overwhelming. This leads to an additional reason for using creative expression. Creative therapies are a powerful way to learn about and express those difficult emotions.

If you would like to process any of these issues, please consider a clinical consultation.