I discovered VICE magazine in my late teens. Lesley Arfin’s Dear Diary quickly became my favorite regular article…waaay better than the Gross Jar. Every month I looked forward to reading her old diary entries and her reactions to them in the present.
One day the articles stopped and in the back of my mind I always wondered what happened. I found my answer a few weeks ago when I picked up Lesley’s new book, Dear Diary. In her book, Lesley includes her “funniest” diary entries from the ages of 11-25, where she goes from self-conscious pre-teen to punk rocker to heroin addict to rehab. She includes follow up statements from both herself and the people who played a role in shaping her life…if she could track them down.
Lesley seems to use her writing as a way to make sense of the world. Through the careful review of her diary entries, as well as self-reflection, Lesley seems to discover and accept herself for who she was and who she is today. This process allowed Lesley to realize that there are numerous points of view to a single event. She is also able to connect with others in a way that seemed impossible at one time. I admire her honesty and her ability to confront herself and people from her past.
Here is a brief quote from the afterward section of the book:
“What was once written in a locked-up book on a plain sheet of pink paper had turned into something I could use to communicate with. This is how a girl who was so insecure once upon a time turned into someone who would let the entire world read her diary today…”(p. 230)
There are many ways one can keep a diary (see the post entitled Documentary Film Making). I most naturally use art in this way, but I also find writing during times of crisis extremely helpful in organizing my thoughts. While working with eating disordered patients, my supervisor Jeanette Pailas would often suggest keeping a visual and/or written diary as an intervention. Diary making was a common group directive, where the patients make books for the purpose of recording one’s thoughts throughout the treatment process and perhaps reviewing the entries at a later time.
Whether it be through pen and paper, the fine arts, film making, or even blogging, keeping a diary of sorts seems like the natural tendency for many people. Not only is it often experienced as non-threatening (because you don’t have to show it to anyone), but it can allow for self-reflection, self-confrontation and can be reviewed at a later date. As Lesley demonstrates, it can also be used to creatively inspire others to learn from their mistakes and to accept oneself.
So I’ve been waiting about a month to start a new job and I have been out of school for about three. I have always either been in school or working. There has never been such a long peroid of time (except when I have been sick in the hospital) where I was completely in charge of what to do with myself. Not that school and working weren’t my choice, but you know what I mean…
Structuring your time is probably one of the hardest things a person can do. I find myself on the verge of complete lethargy, which could easily turn into a depressive state if I had nothing to look forward to in the near future.
This brings me to the point of this post. When working with clients who for one reason or another have little to do with their days, it is important to discuss options for structuring one’s time. For example, are there organizations that could use a volunteer a few days a week? Are there inexpensive classes available through various community organizations? How about just getting out of the house for a few hours and reading in a coffee shop? Of course, lets not forget the idea of beginning an art project. Time flies when you are in a state of creation.
I first learned how to knit during my internship at the Friends Hospital Eating Disorder Unit. Knitting was taught to the patients as a way to build frustration tolerance, and later, once knitting became easier, it became a way of managing anxiety.
Although knitting can be used as a way of managing anxiety, I did not experience it in this way when I first began. Learning to knit was a long process for me. It took several attempts and lots of patience before I was able to be successful at this activity. I also needed someone to sit down and teach me how to knit. For some reason I am never able to learn through pictorial instructions from a book. However, when I wanted to learn how to pearl, I was able to learn quite easily from a youtube video.
Now that I have learned to knit, I’ve noticed that (especially when I am anxious) it helps to clear my mind of thoughts. It helps keep me in the here and now because I am concentrating on completing each stitch properly. When I stop, I tend to be less anxious than when I started and I am proud of what I have completed during that session. Perhaps my experience will change as I become more adept at this task. However, at this point I find that just switching needle sizes or the type of yarn is challenging, therefore requiring my attention in the present.
I have also noticed that when I knit, the activity evokes memories of my grandmother. She was an avid knitter and cannot knit anymore due to Alzheimer’s disease, which has effected her ability to sequence. This reminds me that as an art therapist, you never know what the transference experience will be in relation to a specific directive. Furthermore, the ability for the art therapist to assess the ego strength and the cognitive abilities of the person they are working with is crucial.
Being an art therapist often means adapting already known art techniques to the current population one is working with. The specific needs of a group or a population may only become apparent while working directly with the individuals. Therefore, the art therapist must be versatile and creative in her practice, while always ensuring that her techniques are theoretically grounded.
I first learned how to monoprint while volunteering at La Rue Des Femmes with Saundra Baly in Montreal, Quebec. I adapted this technique to include both sides of the art therapy philosophical spectrum: art as therapy (product oriented) and art psychotherapy (process oriented). This technique was specifically adapted for an inpatient eating disorder population.
Part 1: Printing
Materials
Acrylic paint
Cafeteria trays
Paint brushes, rollers, things to make marks into the paint, such as popsicle sticks or pieces of cardboard
Water
Cloths (to clean trays between prints)
Paper (4″x5″s or small pieces of paper to add structure to the directive)
Procedure
Mark off boundary of paper on the back of trays. Do a demonstration for the group as to how to make a print:
Put paint down onto the tray (within the boundary for the paper)
Press the paper down onto the painted area and then pull up.
Voilà! You have a print. You can wipe excess paint off with a wet cloth and begin the printmaking process again. Discuss different ways of doing prints — lots of paint vs. watery paint. If someone puts a lot of paint down on the tray, more than one print may be possible.
Instruct the group where they can leave their prints to dry. Discuss how this will be a two-part group, and allow the group to begin experimenting with the procedure. Mention that they probably will find that things are not coming out the way they intended, and that’s ok — it’s all a part of the process. Leave some time at the end of group to process what this directive was like — experiences, thoughts, emotions…
Part 2: Framing
Have some pre-made frames handy. Invite the group to make their own frames too, out of paper or popsicle sticks. Find the test print you made, and demonstrate to the group how to use the frame as a viewfinder to look for parts of the prints they enjoy, or find nice. Encourage the group not just to find nice parts in the prints they already like, but also in prints they didn’t think turned out well.
Leave time for a discussion at the end of group to process parts 1 and 2, and what the group thought this was about. Any new thoughts/anything change in the experience between parts 1 and 2?
Goals:
Raise autonomy
Raise frustration tolerance
If color is equivalent to affect, this directive provides boundaries for affect/holding environment through the borders of the lunch tray and paper.
Getting in touch with potential space, which is essential for any creative act to take place, as well as play; allowing oneself to play and let experience flow, the ability to be in the moment without thoughts or judgment.
Success-oriented
One cannot rely on perfectionism because there is no way to control the outcome of a print.
Promoting individuality, positive self discovery
Not having control can be ok
It’s possible to make something out of mess.
Affective media
Helps promote spontaneous verbalization
Tactile — involving the body, which is often denied in eating disorder patients
Lowers the amount of control patients can have over the media
Framing
Finding the good/beauty in mess/chaos, even when its hard to see
Making something out of mess/chaos
Putting boundaries to the mess/chaos
Can take the framed prints home- both a reminder of success and a transitional object
This part of the directive seems to open the group up more for reflection and processing
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