This feature was written by Studio MSP writers. While some of our advertisers were sourced, no advertiser paid to be included.
Art Therapy
Paint by Feelings
When words fail to recognize or articulate our innermost thoughts and battles, a blank canvas and rainbow of acrylics may hold the answer—even if you wrote off your artistic aspirations decades ago.
“There is no age limit to art therapy; it can be truly beneficial for all ages,” says Emily Marsden, licensed professional clinical counselor and registered art therapist at Purple Cow Collective. When participants enter her practice for some creative expression time, she encourages them to check their internal censors at the door.
“The reason why art therapy is more commonly used with younger populations is more due to art-making being more natural at that developmental stage, whereas with adults, many have stopped engaging in visual forms of expression.” A parent may make an offhand remark like, “Your sister is an artist, and you’re really good at math!”—instilling the beliefs of others at a formative age.
She lists self-expression, emotional release, and stress reduction among the chief benefits of art therapy. Ultimately, it allows participants to create a safe space outside of themselves and observe their feelings on paper.
“I personally have utilized art therapy with many adult survivors of sexual violence to help process their traumatic memories and narratives,” she says. “When individuals are engaging in art-making, they are able to target the part of the brain where traumatic memory is stored and move it into the verbal or cognitive side, which makes it a very effective treatment for trauma processing.”
It’s important to note that not all mental health providers who offer art-making in clinical sessions have the training that art therapists possess.
“I would recommend seeking out a provider with ATR or ATR-BC licensure, if [art therapy] is something that would be of interest,” says Marsden.
Brainspotting
The Eyes Have It
Brainspotting is a type of psychotherapy that accesses our visual field to help us process and release stuck or “trapped” trauma so the healing—often nonlinear in nature—can begin. Tiffany Leuthold, a licensed marriage and family therapist at Tysson Creek Therapy and Consultation, says it’s an exercise where the client and therapist work together to target the source of a painful emotion, thought, or memory via specific eye positions.
“We are harnessing the visual field to get access to the brain’s self-scanning and self-healing capacity,” Leuthold says. “The visual field [connects us] to neural processes in the subcortical brain, where trauma is held.” The visual field, she says, reflects what’s being held in the brain or felt in the body. When we are in a state of distress, looking in one direction will feel different compared to looking in another.
“This makes it possible to get access to neural networks that are more resourcing or more activating.” Think of it as finding the file correlated with the upset—in Brainspotting, this is called a relevant eye position (or “brainspot”).
The eyes are the second most complex part of the body, just after the brain. They convert light into electrical impulses, process information encoded in moving stimuli, and have the ability to see about 200 degrees in all directions, including the peripheral visual field. Leuthold says almost half of the brain is dedicated to vision. “The retina of our eye originates as an outgrowth of the developing brain and is composed of neurons,” she says. “Our eyes get access to the subcortical brain structures.”
Brainspotting offers a doorway into preverbal trauma, a form of developmental trauma that occurs in early childhood before our language skills develop. Leuthold says you don’t have to have a memory of what you experienced to be able to heal. “Trauma is anything that overwhelms the brain’s ability to process, thus leaving pieces of unprocessed experience frozen in time and space.”
Underneath the mosaic of tissues and organs, the human body is a system biologically wired to connect and protect us. “Though this feature of being human is adaptive and helps us survive, these adaptations can turn into ways of living, believing, and interacting that don’t allow us to fully experience this life we are living,” she says.
The brain is a constant hive of activity, which means there’s still so much to uncover about this type of therapy, says Madeleine Ipsen, an outpatient mental health therapist at Nystrom and Associates. “There is more information to be learned about how utilizing the field of vision can be helpful to access trauma and process it through the mind-body connection,” she says, “particularly when it comes to gaze spots, or places where our eyes go naturally when we are thinking about certain topics.”
Cognitive Processing Therapy
Continuing Education
The only way out is through, as they say, but wouldn’t it be nice to know what it was we actually went through—and why? That’s where cognitive processing therapy (CPT), a structured modality that focuses on the connections between thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and bodily sensations, comes into play. Elliott Odendahl, a licensed independent clinical social worker at Sankalpa Therapy and Wellness Center, says that, in short, CPT provides a way to understand why recovery from traumatic events is difficult, and it reduces the symptoms associated with trauma.
“CPT is an evidence-based therapy, meaning it has been proven to be effective through rigorous scientific research,” she says. “Because CPT is a short-term intervention, individuals generally engage in eight to 15 sessions total, with 12 sessions being the average.” Sessions last just shy of an hour, and many of her clients attend them on a weekly or twice-weekly basis.
CPT is often structured out in two parts: The first half of treatment is all about learning, skill-building, and writing what Odendahl calls an initial “impact statement,” which is all about documenting the “why” behind the particular event the individual is impacted by.
“CPT is set up to front-load with information about trauma and PTSD … This information helps individuals better understand what happened and why their brain and body responded the way in which it did.”
–Elliott Odendahl / Sankalpa Therapy and Wellness Center
“CPT is set up to front-load with information about trauma and PTSD and why some people get ‘stuck’ in their trauma,” she says. “This information helps individuals better understand what happened and why their brain and body responded the way in which it did.” In the last half, the learnings are then applied through examining how trauma has impacted five critical areas: safety, trust, control, self-esteem, and intimacy.
“CPT comes full circle to include a final impact statement in the last session to revisit how the individual understands what happened and why it happened,” Odendahl says. “To be honest, as the therapist, this is my favorite part, and it is an honor to be able to bear witness to this transformation!”
Sometimes CPT gets lumped in with CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy, but the two treatments have considerable differences. CBT is more fluid in practice, whereas CPT is a more manualized treatment. “CPT has roots in cognitive theory, meaning the treatment process focuses on thoughts and feelings,” says Odendahl. “However, CPT differs from CBT, as it is specifically designed as a trauma treatment intervention providing psychoeducation at the beginning of treatment, as well as examining and dismantling the impact trauma has had on an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.”
Somatic Therapy
Body Language
Since the 2014 release The Body Keeps the Score became a seminal work in trauma literature, our society has paid closer attention to the connection between mind and body. We’re realizing that trauma isn’t just a mentally contained thing; our bodies also bear the remnants of our life experiences. Somatic therapy is a holistic approach focused on uniting our thoughts, emotions, and sensations so the mind and body can be in sync. Dr. Kierst Finsand, a director of clinical services at Care Counseling, says to think of somatic therapy as connecting a plug back into a wall socket after it’s been disconnected.
“It’s often used with people who have experienced traumatic events, though therapists often use pieces of the somatic approach on a range of clients,” she says. “When used with people who have experienced trauma, the somatic approach is focused on how trauma becomes trapped in the body and, in turn, impacts people’s abilities to live their lives consistent with their values.” Perhaps most notably, individuals can explore what reactions and responses they weren’t able to have when the trauma occurred, and allow themselves to have an experience of repair in therapy, she adds.
Our fight-or-flight response can have such a strong hold on us, which is why “pacing” is so critical in a session. Finsand says the therapist’s objective is to help clients regulate their emotional and physical experience in the room without becoming overwhelmed.
“So in a typical session, we might ask questions like, ‘Where do you notice that in your body? What sensation do you notice as we talk about that? What color or shape is that sensation? Is it moving or stagnant?’” she continues. “As we help clients explore these questions, we are also asking about how distressed they are—this helps us know when to pull back and do grounding [deep breathing, using temperature sensations, etc.] and when to continue with them in exploring.” Clients are able to process their experiences without having to recount the traumatic event in all of its excruciating exactness. This detail alone is what “sells” this modality and separates it from the rest.
In fact, the broader mental health field has learned in recent years that people do not need to reprocess the specifics of various events in order for good therapeutic work to be done, says Finsand. “Instead, exploration of the emotions and sensations the client experienced around the event are just as good,” she says.
You needn’t have undergone a really traumatic event to reap the benefits of somatic therapy—Finsand says it’s used in a number of other presenting concerns, like anxiety and depression, as it helps clients identify external triggers that usually worsen symptoms or heighten flare-ups.
The Quiet Side of Addiction
A nonresponse is a non-negotiable when it comes to helping a loved one navigate the journey from active addiction to active recovery. But even if confrontation isn’t one of your strong suits (we are Minnesotans, after all), don’t let it get in the way of approaching your person when you’re looking out for their livelihood.
“There is a step that loved ones can consider before staging an intervention,” says John Curtiss, president and CEO of The Retreat, an alcohol and drug recovery center in Wayzata. “It’s important to have an open and honest conversation … [that’s] nonjudgmental, empathetic, and focused on expressing concern for their well-being.” If your loved one is showing signs of resistance and you’re certain their behavior is endangering themselves (or others), an intervention is no longer an option. This is an instance where pushing yourself out of your comfort zone can prove to be a literal lifesaver for the person on the other end.
“It’s important to remember that an intervention is not meant to be an intimidation tactic, but rather a way to express love and concern while offering support in finding help,” he says. Broaching the subject with a family member or friend can be scary; Curtiss offers the following conversation starters:
“I’ve noticed that you’ve been drinking/using drugs a lot lately. How are you feeling?”
“I’m concerned about your health and well-being. Can we talk about your alcohol/drug use?”
“I’ve noticed that you’ve been struggling lately. Is there anything I can do to help?”
This article originally appeared in the August 2023 issue of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.
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PrairieCare, Edina, Maplewood, Woodbury, prairie-care.com
RockBridge Counseling, Maplewood, rockbridgecounseling.org
Sankalpa Therapy and Wellness Center, Bloomington, sankalpatwc.com
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