CreativePeople and Trauma

Creative People and Trauma

All of us experience some kinds of trauma in life, to some degree. How does creative

expression help people heal and recover?

And how do can we make use of traumatic experiences in creative work?

Presenter : Douglas Eby

M.A. / Psychology

Creator of the Talent Development Resources

series of sites :

talentdevelop.com

French sculptor, painter, and film maker

Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002)

At age three, Pablo Picasso and his family escaped an earthquake

to live in a cave.

Halle Berry suffered abuse as a child, from her father.

“I think I’ve spent my adult life dealing with the sense of low self-esteem that sort

of implanted in me."

SARK (Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy) is an artist and

bestselling author of fifteen books.

She notes, “I’m a survivor of incest" and for a long time, lived a

"very self-destructive life."

She said she knows that art is healing “because of how it heals me and how I see it healing other

people every day."

Author Jonathan Safran Foer was injured at age eight in a classroom chemical accident and suffered “something like a nervous breakdown drawn out over about three years.”

Psychologist Elaine Aron thinks “high sensitivity increases the impact of all

emotionally tinged events.”

In her book "The Highly Sensitive Child" she notes that some sensitive adolescents

may drink and use drugs to try to overcome anxiety or depression (which may have been started or increased by

trauma) through self-medication.

From my post Sensitive to anxiety.

"Lisbeth Salander survives traumas that might lead to addiction or the suicide of

a less resilient character. Giftedness contributes to her resiliency by aiding her problem solving, which increases

her ability to cope."

From article by psychologist Lisa Erickson: 3 Things To Learn From The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – A Gifted Trauma Survivor

See more examples of people and their experiences, plus notes, links to books,

articles and other resources on the page :

CreativePeople and Trauma