Photography

Art Therapy: Photography

An area of art therapy that works for clients as a potential deep self-examination is a photography. Photography reveals what is protected in the psyche (Killick 2019). Although photography may not fix an individual’s problem, it certainly is an effective way of allowing people to work through trauma and other mental and emotional issues they may be facing. For example, phototherapy can help clients working through family issues by viewing personal snapshots, pictures of others, and family albums, bringing to the surface thoughts, feelings, memories, and beliefs that are awakened and communicated through the deepened insight that occurs during the therapy session (Phototherapy 2022). Photographs hold stories and create meanings allowing the individual to work through trauma through a methodical and decisive process (Killick, 2019).

For some, the therapeutic process comes from viewing the photos; for others, taking the photographs brings healing. It allows individuals to express themselves. Herndon and Gallimore write about dealing with the trauma and how photography brings emotional, mental, and physical healing. Telling one’s story is a powerful commodity when dealing with trauma (Herndon and Gallimore 2019). Therapeutic filmmaking that covers videography, digital, or even videos taken on a mobile phone are all therapeutic applications. When the individual is filming matters that explore more profound levels of symbolism or is expressing and communicating through photographic images, the deeper meaning of the client is healing within their journey (Phototherapy 2022). The beauty of phototherapy is that the individual decides who will share their experience. The therapeutic value is not in what others see but in the rawness of the personal holistic experience that others may never understand.

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