Arts & Humanites
Art for the Blues
Arts for the Blues Is a ‘new evidence based creative psychosocial therapy for depression’, and is built on ‘arts psychotherapies’. The therapy was developed in the UK in response to research and findings which called for an innovative method to address depression incorporating the arts such as dance, music, visual arts, and drama.
Vicky Karkou, the co-founder of the project, is the Director for the Research Center for Arts and Wellbeing at Edge Hill University, Uk. The project is a collaborative effort of Edge Hill University, University of Salford. University of Cambridge and NHS Foundation Trust.
It is believed that where talking therapies fail (people drop out, no change reported) approaching depression and its associated mental health issues respond better to an oblique path to the patient’s inner conflicts. Vicky is a Lecturer, a researcher and a psychotherapist who has studied and researched arts therapies and other use of arts for health and wellbeing.
In Feb’23, Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning invited Prof. Karkou to train a team of researchers/psychotherapists/clinicians and service users in Arts for the Blues. The training was spread over 2 full day workshops and was held in Dubai, UAE. The accelerated training gave an in depth view of what the intervention is and how it is to be approached. Through interactive discussions and exercises the participants were geared to the new concepts. A brief description of the workshop activities is given below:
Day 1 – Introductions.
Participants were asked to say something about themselves.
Several drawing exercises such as, a team of two drawing with a pencil/pen in synchronicity with each other, emphasizing the non-verbal intervention to draw out the patient/client.
Holding of hands and swaying as a group – a dance-like movement to apply as another alternative to verbal exchange between the patient/client and the therapist.
A detailed group exercise (whole group) where the members had to draw a safety net and then draw a house together putting in pieces of what they wanted in a dream home.
Theoretical background to the development of the arts for the blues and clearing up of certain misconceptions foremost being – it’s not the same as what is normally understood of art as therapy, where mediums like painting, dancing and so on may be used as stress reducer or a more creative outlet. Arts for the Blues is an evidence based psychotherapy which uses alternate mediums of dance, music, drama in a specific manner to make it easier for the patients to communicate and open up to their therapists and to help the patients release pent up emotions and negative feelings.
Day 2 – Completion of the House exercise.
Placing individual drawings of the portions together on the floor, with the involvement and enthusiasm of the team.
A round up of swaying exercise where holding hands the participants move as in a dance movement.
Question/Answer
Future Plans
PILL plans to test using ARTS for the BLUES in Pakistan, and for this the intervention is being “culturally adapted”, which essentially means making it viable for the Pakistani cultural and societal milieu. Making the material culturally sensitive becomes imperative if it has to be successfully employed.
Highlights
The Role Of Art and Humanities
Suicide and self harm are huge public health concerns and in many countries the problem often goes unreported. Pakistan is one of the few countries where suicidal acts are still punishable by law. Due to legal issues and several other social stigmas that are attached to it the problem is largely unaddressed. The rates however are on the rise. We believe that cinema is a powerful tool, not only to entertain, but to inspire change. Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning has been using arts and humanities as a means to raise awareness and take some steps in tackling stigma.
Through poster competitions, film and role play we have created a platform to initiate discussion. Our latest film “Stray” follows the story of a young man contemplating suicide as he deals with the pressures life has handed to him. We are hopeful that we can communicate stories to stir emotion and encourage change.
Mariam is determined to escape her conservative family by pursuing a secret romance online. When her mother suggests an arranged marriage, she refuses, saying she needs time. With the clock ticking, her romance takes a dark twist, revealing the extremes that Mariam will go to keep her relationship alive.
Role Of Film and Drama in Mental Health
The film provides us with an unusual opportunity to communicate to the world of imagination. The accurate depiction of mental health and mental illness in film is a powerful tool that can help others better understand mental health issues and in turn reduce stigma. The portrayal of mental health issues in film can be an instrument of change that can work against this stigma in multiple ways. When any country has social problems the first people to address it are the filmmakers. Before the issue is resolved in society, it is brought to the public’s attention in the form of TV dramas or films. It’s a important medium to spread awareness among masses. Role playing is another great way to gain insight into yourself and others. It can help become more sensitive to the positions of others and help you to understand how others see you as well as improve your confidence. Role playing in individual and family psychotherapy offers an exceptional tool for patients struggling with a variety of issues. When given the chance to ‘act’ in an unfamiliar role, whether as self or others, new, even life changing ideas can be covered.
Art Therapy and Health
Art therapy has been used clinically for more than a century and has been recognized as a profession since 1991. Mainly there are five primary therapies music, visual arts, movement based creative expressions, expressive writing and drama therapy. By assessing the use of these processes in clinical and qualitative trials, one can determine how others have found benefits in trying the intricacies of artistic meaning to the complexities of health and wellness. Investigating and the relationship between art and health offers some interesting ways to bridge these two important insight into each field. Following are four major fields of art playing an important role in well being of individual mental and physical health.
POSTER COMPETITION Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention in South Asia
To mark world mental health day, Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning (PILL) organized a poster competition on the theme “Self-harm and Suicide Prevention in South Asia”. Through this competition PILL intends to help those experiencing mental health difficulties such as self-harm and suicide in South Asia. Students from all over Pakistan participated in the competition. A panel of International judges evaluated 80+ entries according to the criteria. Top 20 posters were shortlisted for the final round, which were exhibited on the 7th November 2018 at the Global Mental Health Cultural Psychiatry Research Group Public Engagement Event at The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK. The following top three posters were selected for awards;
Top THREE Winners !
1st Prize Winner
Zulekha Nasir from Sialkot
2nd Prize Winner
Aisha Naseer, National College of Arts (NCA), Rawalpindi
3rd Prize Winner
Iqra Naseer, Department of Psychology, Foundation University, Rawalpindi
Top 20 posters exhibited on the 7th November 2018 at the Global Mental Health Cultural Psychiatry Research Group Public Engagement Event at The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK.
Self-Harm Awareness and Hope Of Recovery “It doesn’t matter how sad, broken, depressed you are, there is always a way a hope and a hand which can take you out of any situation“. “Self-harm” is a broad term that refers to any conscious and deliberate act of harm toward oneself. The poster I have made portrays Self-Harm Awareness and Hope of Recovery from it. Basically suicide is an act of self-harm with fatal outcome. And if we try stopping self-harm we can prevent and lower the level of suicide rate among us. This poster illustrate a young woman, depressed to extent that she thinks transforming her emotional pain into physical pain can make things easier for her to handle. She feels like she can’t share her feelings, thoughts with anyone around as if she is trapped and this depresses her more. Then starts having thoughts of suicide, hurting and harming herself as she finds an escape in all these harmful acts. In great mental agony she shed tears for help. Chains here depicts that she is trapped in her own thoughts, emotions and belief that no one will come up with help and the only way to feel better is harm herself or to greater extent find an escape from reality and all this heartbreaking pain with DEATH.People may often get into depression, starts having suicidal thoughts and even attempt suicide in some cases but most of the victims believe they can never be normal again but fact remains, where there is hope and will, there is way. The hand shown from right side is external force, the one for help and the other one is of victim asking for help.By looking around we can always find our loved ones ready for us to help. All we need to do is seek for it and lend our hand to one who can hold and get us through all we have been. It’s like broken bridges can repaired if you try rebuilding them. The water here is symbolic representation of life and hope symbolizing there’s always hope and a chance of recovery but for that you need to push yourself toward believing, hope do exist and things can get better It’s uncomfortable, scary and absolutely necessary to talk about. The myths surrounding self-harm are abundant and I believe that one of the reasons for this is because not many people want to talk about it, but that fact is that many people are experiencing it. Yes, life is hard, and sometimes extremely so for certain members of the population, but there is always hope.
Made By: Aisha Tauqeer University Name : Foundation University Rawalpindi Campus (FURC) Department : BS Psychology (1st semester)
Self harm is actually a condition that arises when a person is going through various mental disorders or conditions. Here in this poster we highlighted two main domains: the first one is the negative domain which shows various disorders; on top left depression is causing self harm to the person that after controlling himself he finally decides to take his life. Right below this we see many different facets of a personality thereby showing a personality split and no sense of self which usually happens in personality disorders but specifically bpd. On the top right we see conduct behaviors and aggression which is causing potential harm to self. Below this drawing we see an anorexic girl who’s drenched in her anxieties and worries. By not eating she’s causing herself to starve and her anxiety is not finding any way to leave her. The second domain is the positive one and it somehow conquers all this turmoil. It shows us that therapy and treatment and even simply talking about it can heal you from within. We hope that we made a clear contribution towards helping people suffering from self harm and whatever causes it as:
‘HAPPINESS IS NOT OUT THERE FOR US TO FIND, THE REASON THAT IT’S NOT OUT THERE IS THAT IT’S INSIDE US.’
A group work by students of BS-Psychology FURC: Fatima Waheed, Fasiha Khalid, Iqra Minal and Hareem Siddiqui.
Self-Harm Awareness and Hope Of Recovery “It doesn’t matter how sad, broken, depressed you are, there is always a way a hope and a hand which can take you out of any situation“. “Self-harm” is a broad term that refers to any conscious and deliberate act of harm toward oneself. The poster I have made portrays Self-Harm Awareness and Hope of Recovery from it. Basically suicide is an act of self-harm with fatal outcome. And if we try stopping self-harm we can prevent and lower the level of suicide rate among us. This poster illustrate a young woman, depressed to extent that she thinks transforming her emotional pain into physical pain can make things easier for her to handle. She feels like she can’t share her feelings, thoughts with anyone around as if she is trapped and this depresses her more. Then starts having thoughts of suicide, hurting and harming herself as she finds an escape in all these harmful acts. In great mental agony she shed tears for help. Chains here depicts that she is trapped in her own thoughts, emotions and belief that no one will come up with help and the only way to feel better is harm herself or to greater extent find an escape from reality and all this heartbreaking pain with DEATH.People may often get into depression, starts having suicidal thoughts and even attempt suicide in some cases but most of the victims believe they can never be normal again but fact remains, where there is hope and will, there is way. The hand shown from right side is external force, the one for help and the other one is of victim asking for help.By looking around we can always find our loved ones ready for us to help. All we need to do is seek for it and lend our hand to one who can hold and get us through all we have been. It’s like broken bridges can repaired if you try rebuilding them. The water here is symbolic representation of life and hope symbolizing there’s always hope and a chance of recovery but for that you need to push yourself toward believing, hope do exist and things can get better It’s uncomfortable, scary and absolutely necessary to talk about. The myths surrounding self-harm are abundant and I believe that one of the reasons for this is because not many people want to talk about it, but that fact is that many people are experiencing it. Yes, life is hard, and sometimes extremely so for certain members of the population, but there is always hope.
Made By: Aisha Tauqeer University Name : Foundation University Rawalpindi Campus (FURC) Department : BS Psychology (1st semester)
Self harm is actually a condition that arises when a person is going through various mental disorders or conditions. Here in this poster we highlighted two main domains: the first one is the negative domain which shows various disorders; on top left depression is causing self harm to the person that after controlling himself he finally decides to take his life. Right below this we see many different facets of a personality thereby showing a personality split and no sense of self which usually happens in personality disorders but specifically bpd. On the top right we see conduct behaviors and aggression which is causing potential harm to self. Below this drawing we see an anorexic girl who’s drenched in her anxieties and worries. By not eating she’s causing herself to starve and her anxiety is not finding any way to leave her. The second domain is the positive one and it somehow conquers all this turmoil. It shows us that therapy and treatment and even simply talking about it can heal you from within. We hope that we made a clear contribution towards helping people suffering from self harm and whatever causes it as:
‘HAPPINESS IS NOT OUT THERE FOR US TO FIND, THE REASON THAT IT’S NOT OUT THERE IS THAT IT’S INSIDE US.’
A group work by students of BS-Psychology FURC: Fatima Waheed, Fasiha Khalid, Iqra Minal and Hareem Siddiqui.
