The invisible wound: Veterans' art therapy

Abstract

On Armistice Day 2011, BBC2 broadcast a Culture Show special, entitled ‘Art for Heroes’, about art therapy with veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It involved the filming of an art therapy group at a Surrey treatment centre for veterans. This article is based on the transcript of that group and takes a thematic analysis approach towards understanding the benefits of art therapy for those veterans. It also explores the neurobiological processes involved in PTSD and in art therapy, examining how the latter might assist recovery on a structural level. Through examination of recent studies and the observations made by those who have participated in the process of art therapy, it is hoped that this article will add to the discussion about the effectiveness of art therapy as a treatment for veterans' PTSD.

Keywords:

• Art therapy
• veterans
• PTSD
• Art for Heroes
• Culture Show special
• neuroscience

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Janice Lobban

Biographical details

Janice Lobban is a Trauma Therapist/Art Psychotherapist who has worked with veterans for the past 11 years and lectures regularly on the BAAT foundation course. She began working in neuro-rehabilitation in the 1980s and is particularly interested in understanding more about the partnering of art therapy and neuroscience.

Correspondence welcome.