Collective Healing and Art - How Co-Creation Can Help Us Reconnect
When it comes to mental health issues, we often treat them like an individual problem. But if it was just on you then how come half of the population is affected? Collective healing happens when we come together and share our pain and our power and cultivate mutual rituals like a creative practice.
Although it often seems like it - the truth is we are not alone in our struggles. unsplash / Reneé Thompson
The man in the hole
When stuck in a mental health crisis there are some things no one really wants to hear. „Don’t worry about it“, „its gonna be fine“, or „chin up“. Hitting rock bottom is a state where uplifting words could possibly do more harm than good. You may have heard of the story of the man in the whole: A man falls into a deep whole and can’t get out of it. He starts crying for help. His cries catch the attention of a priest. The priest looks down to the man and reaches him a bible, hoping he’d find comfort in God’s word. The man reads the bible but he still can’t get out of the hole and continues to cry. A doctor comes by and writes him a prescription. But that too doesn't make a difference for the man, who is kept down in that hole. A therapist comes along and offers the man words of encouragement and gives him advice on how to climb out of the hole. Yet nothing changes, the man is still trapped. Finally a friend walks by. Seeing the man’s struggles the friend climbs down into the hole with the man.
A reaching hadn can also look like climbing i the hole together. unsplash / João Santos
Every second person suffers from a mental health condition
‘What is the use of both being stuck in the hole?‘, you may wanna ask. Imagine going through something terrible. A crisis, a depression, an episode of crippling anxiety. Chances are you know exactly what that’s like. A large study of the Harvard Medical School discovered that one in two people will develop at least one mental health disorder before the age of 75. Among the most common mental health disorders are depression, anxiety and specific phobia, alcohol abuse, and PTSD. The researchers also found that most of these disorders arise between the age of 15 and 20. If half of the population share the experience of ill mental health, then why do we still pretend it’s an individual problem?
When it was announced on 11/6/2014 that Donald Trump had won the U.S. election, my world fell apart. I have to admit, there has never been an election that has captivated me as much and it was probably because I had never projected so much hope onto a person as I did onto Kamala Harris. Luisa Neubauer said in an Instagram reel that she was optimistic for tactical reasons and I must have felt the same way. I had decided to hope that a Harris win would send a jolt through the world. The clearer the election result became, the bigger the rift in my heart became. But I didn't have time to crawl into bed. My clients were waiting for me. I somehow managed to get through the sessions, cried between appointments and then pulled myself together again.
Our society seems to be sick
As an art therapist, I work with people with a wide range of disorders. I mainly see people with depression and anxiety disorders, but also neurodivergence, bipolar disorder and much more. Researchers from the Robert Koch Institute and the Berlin School of Psychology published an article questioning why the prevalence of mental stress is not decreasing despite an increase in care services. They speak of so-called ‘illnesses of our contemporary society’. Accordingly, it seems likely that factors such as income inequality, discrimination, prejudice, unemployment and highly materialistic and competitive values - contribute to increased psychological stress. However, collective critical life events such as the occurrence of natural disasters, economic crises, terrorist attacks or political conflicts, as we are currently experiencing in the Middle East, are also possible causes. Advanced age, socio-economic status, educational and professional status, being single and living in large cities are further risk factors. Added to this are the experience of refugee experience and digitalization. In short, this world and our society seems to be making us ill. And somehow it seems that no one is really spared from it.
Stigma is especially high in the field of mental health
Despite these numbers, the stigma surrounding mental illness is still extremely high. When I started my training as an art therapist, I was suffering from depression. The German Depression Aid (Deutsche Depressionshilfe) states that 45% of all German citizens are affected by depression, either directly or through their relatives. And yet I still find it difficult to write about my own depression. Part of my work is also to combat the stigmatization of mental illness. But talking about the mental problems of others is always easier than talking about your own, isn't it? Especially if, like me, you work in an area where stigmatization is a major issue.
Mental health professionals are especially prone to suffer from stigma. unsplash / Keem Ibarra
Art helped me to see myself in a new light
Three years of psychoanalysis and art helped me to get through my crisis. That's also what brought me to art therapy. Experiencing the power of artistic expression first-hand is much more effective than throwing evidence-based studies at me. I was able to find support in art. I noticed how the darkness gradually transformed into something that felt alive. I experienced how I was able to see myself in a new light through my own work. It was then that I realized I had to share this with the world! Nevertheless, it is not easy to write about your own topics. Not least because I was trained with the concept of abstinence. According to this concept, therapists should not reveal anything about themselves, be a blank canvas, so to speak, onto which patients can then project on as they wish. Of course, it makes sense not to discuss my personal issues with the people I work with. But I don't think we're doing anyone a favor by pretending we don't have these issues at all.
Mental health professionals are just as hard on themselves as they are on others
When it comes to so-called mental health professionals they are often put on a pedestal. They are expected to be above it all, to have their private lives perfectly under control. The result? 46% of the therapists surveyed said they had not told anyone about their problems. Their reasons? Negative experiences, shame and fear of being disadvantaged at work. This is also a consequence of stigma.
A Swedish study showed that psychiatrists and mental health professionals are just as dismissive of people suffering from mental disorders as the general population. They keep their distance from them in their private lives, would not offer them a job or date them. This means that they are just as hard on others as they are on themselves. And the truth is: it's true. At my university, I too experienced how I and my fellow students were afraid to reveal ourselves in self-awareness practice in order to avoid being diagnosed as “unfit” for the job. Just like an imposter who is afraid his incompetence would be exposed, we were afraid our mental health issues would be recognized. That was the moment I learned that my mental health was under scrutiny. My depression had to be concealed because it could be used against me. At the same time, we were required to share highly personal information throughout the course of our studies, and felt it could be used as a reason for criticism or punishment at any time. Especially in psychoanalytic therapies, there is a tendency to interpret every emotional movement of the therapist-in-training against them. I firmly believe that it is a flaw in the system to subject students to a self-awareness session conducted by a person whose job it is to evaluate the students. Because that alone prevents them from feeling safe in a non-judgmental space to really open up.
Therapists-in-training learn to hide their mental health issues very early. unsplash / Hannah Xu
Mental Health issues are not an individual problem
But why do we expect therapists to be different from the rest of the world? How can we seriously believe that they don't suffer from the same structures as everyone else? As if therapists live in a vacuum, untouched by the outside world? If we carry the same stigma as the rest of the world, then perhaps we also carry the same burdens? Now, a few years into my education, I told my new therapist, whom I do supervision with, about my fears regarding the geopolitical situation in the world and the rising power of the radical right. I told her about my fear of living as a black, queer woman in Germany, while people with migration experience are scapegoated for pretty much every problem in this country, and a femicide is committed almost every day. And you know what my therapist said? She didn't meet me with silence, she didn't pretend to be above it, she didn't hide behind her abstinence. Instead, she showed me her vulnerable side and said: “I feel it, too.” And that meant so much to me. It changed something in me. My brain went from “This is my anxiety, I'm alone in this” to “This is not an individual problem.”
When it comes to mental illness, we in the “western” world often treat it as something individual. I'm not saying that every person has the same problems, the same story. Of course, different people react differently to certain experiences. But most of our mental health problems are structural problems that arise from loneliness, disconnection and the stress we experience in an individualistic culture of productivity. Just as PTSD often affects people who experience war trauma. Although we share the same society, geopolitical and economic situation, we still act as if everyone has to deal with their own problems alone.
The individualization of mental health promotes isolation and loneliness. unsplash / Gadiel Lazcano
Art can make us feel a sense of belonging
The truth is: most mental illnesses are a collective problem. If half of humanity suffers from mental illness, how can we still see it as a single person's problem? This pain we feel is a collective pain and it should be treated as such.
Art has always been a means of communication. Artists take their experience, the events of the world, their emotional state and create a work of art, let's say a painting, which you can later see in an exhibition. So you stand in front of it, and for some reason your eyes remain glued to the picture. It touches you, deep inside. You, with all your difficulties, fears, sadness, hope and anger. Whatever is going on inside you feels addressed by the work. And do you know what it says to you? It says: “I feel it, too.” It says: “You are not alone in this.” And you're not. Because someone out there connects directly with you and gives you a sense of belonging.
unsplash / Etactics Inc
Art can help you break the cycle of trauma
If you are artistically active - regardless of whether you think you are talented or not - your feeling of being overwhelmed or powerless can turn into a feeling of self-efficacy. Because you make a difference, with every brushstroke, with every color choice you make, you make a difference. Even if that difference is tiny, even if I can only make a difference in one person's life, they will make a difference in another person's life. It's like knocking over a domino brick, which in turn causes more dominoes to fall. So many dominoes have already fallen behind me. Someone has broken the cycle of trauma so that I can help break the cycle for someone else. And that is collective healing.
Climbing in the hole is part of collective healing
Because at the end of the day, we all want the same things in life. We want to feel seen and heard, we want to be loved and to love. We want a sense of security and autonomy. Human needs are quite banal. When we fall into a hole, sometimes words of encouragement help us. Sometimes we just need someone to remind us that this is not the end of the world, that there is still so much ahead of us. But sometimes, in the particularly dark moments, when the world seems to be collapsing around us, when it feels like we are suffocating under the pressure of external expectations, when we are afraid of the future, perhaps the only thing that helps is to know that this hole is a collective experience. That someone is down there with us. And that we can heal together as a collective.
Art can help us feel a sense of authentic connection. unsplash / Chris Palomar
Collective healing draws on mutual support and solidarity
Collective healing happens when we come together as a group and explore our shared trauma, our pain. When we are open about it, make ourselves vulnerable and don't let shame overwhelm us. When we draw on mutual support, cultural practices and community resources to promote healing. Creating together is just that. It is a practice of expression. It is about allowing someone to see you and your pain in their art and vice versa. Collective healing emphasizes shared experience, empathy and resilience and helps us to heal in the context of our community. In this way, we create a sense of solidarity and connectedness. So we sit together in this hole and decorate the walls with beautiful artwork. With our stories and our hope. With everything we have. We can become so much stronger as a collective. After all, healing doesn't mean always having everything under control or never failing. Nor does it mean that you are entitled to happiness from the moment you are healed. Instead, it means making a true and honest connection with yourself that enables true and honest connections with others.
We are in this together
If we look at the training conditions of therapists, the paradox becomes clear at first glance: the environment in which they are trained is absolutely harmful. They have to deal with sleep deprivation, financial difficulties and chronic self-sacrifice. Some of my fellow students even reported suffering from burnout after graduation. It would be foolish to claim that we are immune to mental illness just because we learn to heal it in others. Instead, it would be healing to say “I feel it, too”. Because it's true. Because it is real. Because we can't get out of the cycle of pain unless we stop pretending we're not hurt. We are after all in this together.
Sources:
McGrath, John JAguilar-Gaxiola, Sergio et al.: “Age of onset and cumulative risk of mental disorders: a cross-national analysis of population surveys from 29 countries“, The Lancet Psychiatry, Volume 10, Issue 9, 668 - 681
Stigmatisierung: Psychische Störungen bei Psychotherapeuten
Julia Thom, Julia Bretschneider, Nils Kraus, Josua Handerer, Frank Jacobi: “Versorgungsepidemiologie psychischer Störungen Warum sinken die Prävalenzen trotz vermehrter Versorgungsangebote nicht ab?”, Bundesgesundheitsbl 2019 · 62:128–139, Springer-Verlag GmbH Deutschland, ein Teil von Springer Nature 2019
Tay S, Alcock K, Scior K: Mental health problems among clinical psychologists.
Journal of Clinical Psychology 2018; 74 (9): 1545–1555von Sydow, K. Psychotherapeuten und ihre psychischen Probleme. Psychotherapeut 59, 283–292 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00278-014-1056-2
Shem S (1998) Mount Misery. Knaur, München
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