https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7316-0473
Figures & data
Table 1. Difference in outcomes by gender
Table 2. Participant perceptions of the art therapy
Table 3. Differences in the extent to which symptoms were addressed in short vs. longer-term art therapy
Figure 1. Example of a Marine’s work in Level 1 art therapy groups
Figure 1. Artwork created by an active duty male service member who served as an infantry/sniper in the Marine Corps with over 18 years of service and seven deployments before he began art therapy. The mask he created represents his need to keep going despite the dark hole of sacrifice shown on the inside, with deaths of his comrades tallied. His montage represents a reflection on various aspects of military experience as well as on legacies of honor and collateral damage. Level 1 art therapy provided the service member with an opportunity for non-verbal self-expression.
Figure 2. Example of a Marine’s work in Level 2 art therapy groups
Figure 2. Examples of artwork created by the Marine in Level 2 art therapy groups. The first set is a pair of drawings representing his greatest fear at the moment, not knowing how he will keep going after he leaves support of his peers and treatment team, and his greatest comfort at the moment, fly fishing, which he described as helping to save his life through reconnection with nature and God. His celebration/commemoration box shows life as a Marine on the outside and contains images and memorabilia on the inside that represent deaths or near-death experiences. During Level 2 art therapy groups, the service member focused more on supports and resources he had in his life and helped him expose that which he had been suppressing that was contributing to chronic conditions.
Figure 3. Example of a Marine’s work in ongoing individualized art therapy
Figure 3. In ongoing individualized art therapy sessions, the Marine first worked through “letting go of the black” in preparation of deep grief work. His work then focused on creating a list of each comrade who had died, creating a memorial tile for each of over 60 individuals. While creating the tile for each he was able to process circumstances of their deaths, the significance of each person to him, and to resurface positive memories that had been buried with the negative. Afterward he arranged the tiles together and created an American flag across them all, as to lay them to rest with honor. Ongoing work primarily focused on processing trauma, grief, and loss, and all of the associated emotions. The remaining 2 months of art therapy prepared him for his transition out of the military.
Figure 4. Example of a Soldier’s work in Level 1 art therapy groups
Figure 4. Artwork created by an active duty female service member who served in military intelligence and criminal investigation in the Army with over 18 years of service and three deployments before she began art therapy. The mask she created summarizes the effects of a full career, internalizing her own feelings. The front is split, showing goals of being loving and connected and the other side showing faking the funk. The inside represents feeling a lack of voice, darkness that she felt, and a nod to the sanctuary she felt at home with her family. Her montage represents challenges from her career as well as symbolism that she was beginning to find her voice, which fostered feelings of hope.
Figure 5. Example of a Soldier’s work in Level 2 art therapy groups
Figure 5. During Level 2 art therapy groups, the Soldier continued to process more deeply feelings of drowning, or being buried by pain caused by her work, as well as the recognition of her strengths, grounding resources, and strong support system she had at home. In creating the work, especially the celebration/commemoration box, she processed feelings associated with her experiences with deaths of comrades, victims of cases with which she had been involved, and maltreatment she had experienced.
Figure 6. Example of a Soldier’s work in ongoing individualized art therapy
Figure 6. During ongoing individual art therapy sessions the Soldier utilized art therapy for emotional release, support, and processing of that which was arising in her daily life and worked to improve her own self-love and compassion despite past experiences.
