Complicated Grief, Attachment, and Art Therapy. Группа авторов

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      Complicated Grief,

      Attachment,

      & Art Therapy

      Theory, Treatment, and

      14 Ready-to-Use Protocols

       Edited by Briana MacWilliam

      Jessica Kingsley Publishers

      London and Philadelphia

      Contents

       Introduction

       Briana MacWilliam

       Part I. Theory

       Chapter 1The Language of Grief: When There Are No Words

       Briana MacWilliam

       Chapter 2The Origins of Attachment

       Briana MacWilliam

       Chapter 3Complicated Grief

       Briana MacWilliam and Dina Schapiro

       Chapter 4The Impact of Culture and Community

       Briana MacWilliam, Anne Briggs, Maya Rose Hormadaly, and Dana George Trottier

       Chapter 5Concepts in Treatment

       Briana MacWilliam, Danielle Klingensmith, Lauren D. Smith, Melissa Meade, Julie Day, Romona Mukherjee, and Karen Gibbons

       Part II. Self-Studies

       Chapter 6Imaginal Dialogues: Coping with Countertransference

       Marisa Zarczynski

       Chapter 7Mandala Making through Crochet to Navigate Grief

       Julie Day

       Chapter 8The Tree of Life: A Transpersonal Heuristic Journey

       Susan Leopold

       Chapter 9Interpersonal Knots: An Art-Based Exploration of Tying and Untying

       Juliana Thrall

       Chapter 10The Memory Box

       Laurel Larson

       Chapter 11Phototherapy Techniques and Grief

       Kateleen Foy

       Chapter 12A Woman Who Dreams: The Shadow Box

       Kimberly Bush

       Part III. Applications

       Chapter 13Vicarious Trauma: Supporting Bereavement and Self-Care Practice through Art Therapy for Healthcare Providers

       Sarah Yazdian Rubin and Lauren D. Smith

       Chapter 14Can You Help Me Say Goodbye?: Sibling Loss and Bereavement Support in the Healthcare Environment

       Lauren D. Smith and Sarah Yazdian Rubin

       Chapter 15Mask Making and Dialectical Behavior Therapy With Homeless Young Mothers

       Divya Sunil Gulati

       Chapter 16Art and Grief: Working with At-Risk Youth Who Have Lost a Parent

       Ariel Argueso

       Chapter 17The Women’s Womb: Archetypal Imagery and Grieving Lost Self-Parts

       Marie Caruso-Teresi

       Chapter 18Multimedia Approaches in Childhood Bereavement

       Sarah Vollmann

       Chapter 19Exploring Attachment and Grief through Shoe-Alteration Techniques

       Kelsey Dugan

       CONTRIBUTORS

       SUBJECT INDEX

       AUTHOR INDEX

Introduction

      Briana MacWilliam

      Intersections of attachment and grief

      The meaning making of memories, the weaving of symbol into story: this is the work of grief. In the therapeutic practice of the art therapist, it is essential to understand the healing aspects of this process, when exploring how disturbances in attachment impact grief and loss.

      Attachment is a bio–psycho–social process by which affectional bonds are formed between human beings, most critically examined through the earliest phases of development. What qualifies as a “disturbance” is further explored throughout this text, but generally speaking, when a child receives such messages as “you make me proud,” “you make me angry,” or “don’t hurt your sister’s feelings,” he realizes the power he wields over others—including his more capable adult caretakers—and this is anxiety inducing. Equally, he realizes the opposite must be true: if he can make others feel something and act accordingly, then they can make him feel something and act accordingly as well. In this way, the child falls into blame games that quickly spiral into complicated relationships, fraught with tension and unresolved issues. He then carries those loose ends into other aspects of life, compounding his “unfinished business” (James and Friedman, 2009).

      Finally, when a great loss occurs, the child is put to the task of unwinding this tangled web for himself—a responsibility he must learn, perhaps, for the first time in his life. No, you cannot control the rain that ruined your picnic, or the delayed flight that cost you a promotion, or the philandering activities of your ex-boyfriend, or the abusive nature of your stepfather, or the cancer that killed your mother, nor the car accident that took your child, but you can control how you move on from it. You can make a decision about how these horrible events will continue to shape your experience of the present moment. It is bad enough when terrible things happen to us, but to succumb to these events and their influence through self-inflicted perpetuity is to always feel pain.

      “Easier said than done,” you might say, and you would be right. But it begins with making the choice, with realizing that holding onto a lovely fantasy that only causes you heartache is not a way of honoring the dead or the lost, but a form of self-punishment. Equally, beating yourself up over things you might have said or done, or failed to say and do, is to place the work of forgiveness in other people’s hands, and absolve yourself of responsibility. In this vein, the work of grief is the work of growth, defined by a revisiting and revising of our attachments, through the process of integration. It is a choice between contracting into a victimized identity, or “discovering grace” on the other side of helplessness and surrender (Tolle, 2004).

      What is integration? In essence, integration is how we observe, understand, interact with, create, and communicate our life story. Integration has been defined through various stage theories,