Things You Learn in Therapy
Things You Learn in Therapy
Exploring Creativity as a Healing Force for Collective Trauma
This episode is a brief exploration of the seven medicines to heal collective trauma column by Dr. Thema Bryant's (See link below). Truth, as tough as it may be, is the first step towards healing. We also dive into the boundless joy and rejuvenation that creativity instigates, its stress-alleviating effects, and how it rekindles our connection with our souls. So, whether you've been doodling with a dry erase marker or journaling your thoughts, join us in this thought-provoking discussion about harnessing our creativity.
We also have some exciting news to share! The upcoming fall season of the podcast promises a plethora of innovative ideas to keep your creative juices flowing. We're eager to hear from you, your experiences, your thoughts. If you're interested, there's a chance for you to be a guest on our show - just fill out the form at the bottom of the description. Here's to another great season of the show!
Column: Seven medicines for healing collective trauma (apa.org)
This podcast is meant to be a resource for the general public, as well as fellow therapists/psychologists. It is NOT meant to replace the meaningful work of individual or family therapy. Please seek professional help in your area if you are struggling. #breakthestigma #makewordsmatter #thingsyoulearnintherapy #thingsyoulearnintherapypodcast
Feel free to share your thoughts at www.makewordsmatterforgood.com or email me at Beth@makewordsmatterforgood.com
If you are a therapist or psychologist and want to be a guest on the show, please complete this form to apply: https://forms.gle/ooy8QirpgL2JSLhP6
www.bethtrammell.com
Hello listener, welcome back. I'm your host, dr Beth Tramel, a licensed psychologist and associate professor of psychology at Indiana University East, where I'm also the director of the Masters in Mental Health Counseling Program. And this is Things you Learn on Therapy. Sorry, I'm posting a little bit late. I had planned on having a guest join to talk about creativity. I know, last week on the other podcast, I talked about creativity with my friends at Core, essential Values and how do we promote creativity in kids.
Speaker 1:And as I was thinking about what I would say on my own about creativity, I sort of was like, well, maybe I'll just skip this week. And then I started reading a few articles from the American Psychological Association, which APA, is our national organization. It has all sorts of resources. In fact, if you are not a clinician, there would be lots of things to kind of poke around and read on the American Psychological Association website. And I was reading this article from APA president, thelma Bryant. Dr Thelma Bryant, she was sharing about medicines for healing collective trauma, and creativity was on there, and so I thought, well, maybe we should talk about creativity after all. So I want to share a little bit about what Dr Bryant shared in her article. I'm going to link it in the description here also, so you can look at it yourself and read all of what she has to say. It's a very short article so it shouldn't take too long, and I just think it's interesting for us to think about, particularly around this issue of collective trauma. And so, just as a brief, let's get on the same page.
Speaker 1:Collective trauma is really that sort of impact that we as a group or community or a group of people feel after experiencing some sort of traumatic experience. So collective trauma might involve a small group like your family, who may be experienced this collective trauma like a house fire or a death in the family. It may be an entire group of people, like certain marginalized groups that experience discrimination on a daily basis, some of us who are experiencing the continued impact of the pandemic, mass shootings, war, right. So sometimes when we think about trauma, there's a lot of conversation around trauma, and these last really probably the last decade, and it is great news for our field that people are starting to talk more about it. And what it also tells us is that many of us are experiencing ongoing trauma responses because of both our personal trauma, right Things that we have experienced in our own life individually, but then also the collective trauma of everything that we have experienced as a society, as a group, as kind of whatever group that you yourself are a part of, and so actually, I want to just share with you one creativity was on this list that Dr Bryant talked about in terms of medicines for healing collective trauma.
Speaker 1:But the first medicine that Dr Bryant shares is that the first medicine is truth. The first medicine is truth. I was really, I sort of was really shocked, not really shocked, but just sort of like wow, that's bold and true. So in her article she says the first medicine is truth. We must face the reality of our wounds in order to heal. Denial will not save us. So, as you are a listener and you're thinking, oh well, sometimes denial is actually happy for me. Sometimes I just don't necessarily wanna know the truth. Or you know, I've faced the truth and it's been more painful. I've faced the truth and I've gotten worse. I've faced the truth and it's been really hard. All of those things may be true, and I think to Dr Bryant's point, true, healing comes from facing that truth. That doesn't mean that you can't have partial healing by just sort of pretending like nothing is going wrong and there's nothing that is on fire around you. But I really appreciated this being the first medicine and, in fact, just I really appreciated the entire take here around this idea of medicines. Right, it actually is what drew me into the article. It was a little bit of click bait for me but I was like oh, seven medicines for collective trauma. I really am curious about that. What are the medicines that a fellow psychologist would talk about when we are talking about collective trauma? And it wasn't exactly what I expected. And I really appreciated that.
Speaker 1:The fifth medicine on this list is creativity, and I think that this is part of what I was hoping to kind of share with you all this week that creativity really is great for the soul, great for healing, great for kind of stretching our brains, our comfort zones, in ways that generally we don't necessarily do as much. I think about clients that I've worked with, I think about my own life, where the day in and day out of life doesn't really push me in any kind of creative way. Right, I'm trying to do as many things in a routine based way, so I don't have to think all that much, and I was struck this morning, as I was thinking about this, that, yeah, I think there is always power and there's always comfort in doing things like you've always done, right, the comfort of a routine, the comfort of knowing what is coming. And then I was reminded this morning of the joy that comes with creativity, the excitement, the relief, the refreshment that comes with creativity, right, that when we can do something just a little bit outside of the norm and we can do things that really charge us to be creative, right. So her examples here are dance, right, speak, design, reduce your stress, reconnect with your soul. Just really appreciated that.
Speaker 1:So, as you are thinking today, on a Monday, right? So today's Monday, not Friday, sorry, friends who were looking for a new episode last week, I am a little behind it. So think about what this week can look like if you are gonna push yourself towards just one moment of creativity. That might mean drawing up a picture on your whiteboard with your dry erase markers. Maybe that is as simple as picking a new color of your dry erase marker. Maybe that's journaling, it's writing, it's creating poetry, it's scheduling a time to hang out with your friends. Maybe you find a local dance studio. Maybe you're gonna do some art in some way with your kids, with your spouse, with your partner, with your family. Maybe it's music. Maybe you're gonna create music, you're gonna listen to music, you're gonna rock out to music in your bedroom. If we're thinking about Continual healing of collective trauma, maybe that that we have experienced, maybe it's individualized trauma. Let's take a step towards creativity. Let's see if that fifth medicine is a part of what can be our Healing.
Speaker 1:This week, I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to hear if this has been powerful for you in any way. Maybe you are a very creative person and you have found power in this, and maybe you're on the other end. Hey, beth, I am not a creative person and I don't know how to do this. Would love to hear from you, beth, at makewordsmatterforgoodcom.
Speaker 1:This week, I'm also gonna share with you what's coming. So the fall season is finally here. I mean, it's not actually fall, it's like 90 degrees here where I'm at but the fall season of the podcast is coming. I'm gonna share with you all of the great episodes I have coming up with, all of the amazing guests that I've been working with all summer, and this season is when you're not gonna want to miss. It's gonna be great. So if there's anything that you would like to hear more about, like to be a guest on the show, would love to have you fill out the form that's at the bottom of the description and, as always, stay safe and stay well out there, friends, and go be creative. Ciao.
