Healing Trauma through Expressive Arts

Abstract

Trauma disrupts our world, emotions, and sense of safety. Natural disasters, violence, and accidents can create painful feelings and memories. For many people, those memories are too raw to discuss directly. Expressive arts provide a pathway to access those memories in a less-threatening format. Exploring them through art, music, sandtray, and other expressive arts provides therapeutic distancing and a way to make the abstract concrete. This chapter is an exploration of the effects of trauma, the process of expressive arts, and the application of expressive arts in trauma treatment. A case study is provided, with example charting. Examples of expressive arts interventions are shared.

Department(s)

School of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences

Document Type

Article

DOI

10.4324/9781003499749-5

Publication Date

1-1-2026

Journal Title

Treatment Planning Writing and Documentation in Creative and Expressive Arts Therapies A Guide for Mental Health Professionals

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