Art: An unlikely form of army therapy
The BBC’s Culture Show visited an art therapy session at Combat Stress to see how it is helping veterans
With the lack of military hospitals, many veterans are turning to charities for help. One is using the unlikely weapon of art to help fight the psychological wounds of war, while another organisation is actively encouraging artwork in the army.
Outside of the NHS, the charity Combat Stress is the biggest provider of support to armed forces veterans with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety.
Art therapy is one of the treatments it uses. Drawing, sculpting and painting are helping patients manage their symptoms with great success.
“Traumatic memories take a different path from our normal memories and tend to be frozen in the body in the central nervous system,” explains Janice Lobban, who has been a trauma therapist at Combat Stress for the past 10 years.
“When a trauma happens, the person will react to get through the experience, but it leaves the trauma unprocessed. A person might then get a sensory memory like a sound, or sight, or smell, that is reminiscent of the trauma and they re-experience it happening again.”
Read this great article by Genevieve Hassan, Arts reporter on BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15676268