According to King and Pope (2000) creativity is associated with psychological richness and complexity. Creative people demonstrate:
- autonomy and independence
- self control
- trust their own judgment
- have more interests
- are more willing to attend to chaotic aspects of the world
- tolerate ambiguity
- have greater acceptance for difference in human nature
- are more curious about the world
- are open to exploration and play
Everyone of the above linked to psychological health. Creativity has an important role in resilience. Resilient children are found in similar traumatic situations to come through with much fewer problems.
Characteristics of resilient children
- prosocial behavior such as : responsiveness, caring and empathy, sense of humor, communication skills
- problem-solving skills, alternative ways of seeing situations
- autonomy and adaptive distancing
- sense of purpose and future direction (Benard 1991)
Creativity in art therapy
When you create images of painful experiences for example, you give them a voice through an expressive form. These experiences are made visible through the process of making and can be transformed through the problem apprehending and problem solving inherent in artistic work. Art allows for the diagrammatic or symbolic representation of inner and outer realities that are at times pre-verbal, or simply too perplexing or complex for words. The actual making of artistic products can be a means of moving through despair and pain instead of remaining inert and stuck. Art making in therapy is an action oriented process that can both bind anxiety offering benefits therein, while externalizing the conflict making it more accessible for therapeutic work. A committed artistic practice in and outside of therapy potentially offers many of the benefits listed by King and Pope.
Classé dans creativity, Resilience.
Catégorisé dans Création, Société.
Publié le 04 mai 2008
