Why Art Helps in Trauma Recovery

Trauma is not only something we remember—it is something we carry in the body and nervous system. Often, traumatic experiences are difficult to put into words. They may live more as sensations, images, emotions, or fragments rather than a clear narrative.

This is where art or creative expression becomes powerful.

Creative expression allows people to process experiences beyond language. Whether through music, movement, painting, storytelling, cooking, or working with the land, art gives form to what feels overwhelming or unspoken.

Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk notes that trauma disrupts the brain’s ability to integrate experience into a coherent story. Art can help restore that integration.

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How Art Helps Integrate the Brain

Trauma can disconnect different parts of the brain: It helps the brain reintegrate these difficult experiences, bringing together both the left and right hemispheres of the brain (creativity and logic) as well as the upper and lower parts of the brain (cognition and emotions).

When we engage in art, these systems begin to work together again. This process supports integration—helping us move from fragmented experience toward something more whole, meaningful, and manageable.

Research in expressive therapies (Malchiodi, 2020) and trauma studies shows that creative practices can:

• Reduce stress and emotional overwhelm
• Support nervous system regulation
• Increase a sense of agency and control
• Help process and reframe difficult experiences

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A Gentle Creative Practice

This is a simple exercise to begin exploring creative expression as a tool for healing. It is important to go slowly and stay within a range that feels manageable. Using this type of process in your art with small managable things helps your brain and body began to develop this use of art as a tool for recovery from deeper and more complicated experiences.

Step 1: Choose a Manageable Experience

Think of a difficult experience—but not the most overwhelming or traumatic one. Start with a memory that does not impact you currently.

Choose something that feels about a 4 out of 10 in intensity.
(If it feels too distressing, choose something lighter.)

The goal is not to re-traumatize yourself, but to gently build your capacity to process experience. It also is a way of helping your brain and body learn how to use art intentionally.

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Step 2: Reflect Briefly

Spend a few minutes bringing the experience to mind. If you need to remind yourself, you are in the present. Then pay attention to

• What you remember
• What you feel in your body
• Any emotions, images, or sensations

Stay grounded. If you feel overwhelmed, pause and return to the present (look around, take a breath, feel your feet on the ground). Always feel free to pause, come back if you need, seek help from a therapist or choose a less intense memory.

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Step 3: Create

Now, begin to express something of that experience through a creative form.

There is no “right way” to do this.

You might:

• Play or write music
• Draw, paint, or sculpt
• Write a poem or short reflection
• Cook or bake something that expresses how you feel
• Work in a garden or with your hands
• Move your body through dance or simple movement

Let the process be open, curious, and non-judgmental.
You are not trying to create something “good”—only something true.

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Step 4: Notice What Shifts

Afterward, take a moment to reflect:

• What do you notice in your body now?
• Has anything changed in how you feel?
• Did anything surprise you?

There is no need to analyze deeply—simply notice.

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Important Reminders

• Go at your own pace
• Stop if you feel overwhelmed
• This practice can be helpful, but it is not a substitute for professional care
• If trauma feels intense or unmanageable, consider working with a trained therapist

Approaches such as EMDR or trauma-informed counseling can provide additional support.

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Lament

(adapted from Healing Teen’s Wounds of Trauma)

For people of faith traditions creating a lament is a practice that has been around for thousands of years. One positive way to deal with the hard things that go on in our lives is to create a “lament.” A lament is a way of expressing our pain to God when we feel bad. It might be done in words, in music, in dance or any other form of creative expression. A lament helps us expose all the stuff that we have tried to hide and share it with God. This is a good way to start telling your story and releasing painful memories. As it becomes more comfortable for you to share it privately with God, creating a lament can lead to sharing your story with another person when you are ready.

There are many examples of laments in the Bible. Trauma after trauma happened to the nation of Israel as a community (wars, captivity, displacement, famines) as well as to individuals (abuse, rape, abandonment, murder). Many of them found comfort in bringingtheir pain to God. They had an honest way of speaking to God where they poured out their complaints to him, sometimes even as they declared their trust in him. There are over 40 laments in the book of psalms (making it the most common type of psalm). Laments have the elements below in them but they must have a complaint to be a lament. It is helpful to also have a review of God’s faithfulness and a vow of trust in God.

Examples

Psalms 142, Habakkuk 3:17-18, Psalms 130, Psalms 13

Here is Psalm 13 and the parts of a lament in it. This might help you in creating your own.

1. How much longer will you forget me, Lord? Forever? How much longer will you hide yourself from me? 2. How long must I endure trouble? How long will sorrow fill my heart day and night? How long will my enemies triumph over me? 3. Look at me, O Lord my God, and answer me. Restore my strength; don’t let me die. 4. Don’t let my enemies say, “We have defeated him.” Don’t let them gloat over my downfall. 5. I rely on your constant love; I will be glad, because you will rescue me. 6. I will sing to you, O Lord, because you have been good to me.

Vs 1-2 Address to God and Complaint

Vs 3-4 Request

Vs 5a Statement of Trust

Vs 5b-6- Vow to Praise

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A Final Thought

There is no perfect way to treat trauma. Trevor Hudson says, “Everyone sits next to their own pool of tears.” Each person is unique, as are their strengths, weaknesses, and the way trauma impacts them. Using creative expressions to engage in difficult experiences and emotions is a tool in your toolbox – not the only one. Art can help us reconnect, restore, and begin to heal.

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References

• The Body Keeps the Score — Bessel van der Kolk
• Malchiodi, C. A. (2020). Trauma and Expressive Arts Therapy
• Our Polyvagal World
• American Art Therapy Association