Telling without Talking: Breaking the Silence of Domestic Violence | Psychology Today Blogs 11/29/08 3:32 PM

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Art, Media, and the
Mind
Silence of Domestic Violence Cathy Malchiodi is an art
Kim Sheridan By Cathy Malchiodi on September 26, 2008 in The Healing Arts therapist, visual artist,
independent scholar, and
Beautiful Minds author of 13 books on arts
Scott Barry Kaufman Speaking the truth about domestic
therapies, including The Art
violence is a step toward healing for all
Creating in Flow Therapy Sourcebook and the
Susan K. Perry, Ph.D. survivors. But when talking about violence bestselling Understanding
brings shame, ambivalence, and fear, art Children's Drawings.
Freedom to Learn
therapy gives survivors not only a voice,
Peter Gray
but also is a way to raise consciousness
Genius and Madness
about the profound effects of battering and
William Todd Schultz
all forms of abuse between partners.
Imagine That!
Michele and Robert While I have no explanation for the
Root-Bernstein
psychology behind the current financial
Life as Art crisis, as a therapist I am certain of one
Shelley Carson
psychological effect of an economic turndown -- an increase in domestic
Music Matters violence. In this time of economic uncertainty, job loss, home foreclosures,
Henkjan Honing and increased costs of living, pressures mount in families and frayed
People in Nature tempers inevitably will give way to an increase in battering and abuse.
Richard Louv According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, domestic violence is
Play a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain
Stuart Brown power and control over an intimate partner. Physical, sexual, emotional,
The Healing Arts economic or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence
Cathy Malchiodi another person may all be part of the dynamics, including any behaviors
that frighten, intimidate, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame, injure
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or wound another individual.

While domestic violence can happen to anyone of any race, age, sexual Stay Updated
Psych Centers orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, or gender, for the past 25 The Healing Arts Blog
Addiction
years I have worked with adult women and child survivors and mostly
All Psychology Today Blogs
those who have found refuge in shelters and safe houses. I suspect that
Anxiety
with the continuing economic rollercoaster, we
Autism
will see a rise in not only reports of domestic
Behavioral Economics violence, but also a strain on these Cathy Malchiodi's Recent Posts
Child Development community-based programs that help women Gratitude: Commit Random Acts of Art
Creativity and children leave abusive relationships. November 25, 2008
Crime Art Therapists, Rock On: The 39th Conference of the
Depression Although personal safety and a violence-free American Art Therapy Association
life are the first and foremost issues for November 19, 2008
Diet
anyone who is the victim of domestic CDC Study Raises More Questions than Answers
Eating Disorders
violence, the long term healing process About Common Trauma Interventions for Children
Evolutionary involves recovery from cumulative trauma, November 10, 2008
Psychology Creativity and Hope
often posttraumatic stress reactions, and
Gender almost always personal shame and loss of November 6, 2008
Happiness self. Art therapy, which formally began as a Women Making Art: A Time Guiltily Seized
Health field and treatment shortly after World War II, October 1, 2008
Integrative Medicine continues to be widely adopted to help Telling without Talking: Breaking the Silence of
Domestic Violence
Media battered women and children deal with their physical and emotional scars. September 26, 2008
Memory Art as a healing force does not come easy for those whose lives have
Music and Memory: She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah,
Neuroscience been controlled, are accustomed to betrayal and punishment, and have Yeah
learned self-hatred. But inevitably when it does, creativity and imagination September 8, 2008
Parenting
restore a sense of possibility, identity, and reconnection with parts of the
http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-healing-arts/200809/telling-without-talking-breaking-the-silence-domestic-violence Page 1 of 3
Telling without Talking: Breaking the Silence of Domestic Violence | Psychology Today Blogs 11/29/08 3:32 PM

Parenting September 8, 2008

restore a sense of possibility, identity, and reconnection with parts of the When Katrina Happened, Children Drew: Three
Personality
self that were silenced in order to survive the violence. While survivors Years Later
Pets often feel shame in talking about abuse, talking about their artworks is an August 28, 2008
Philosophy experience of finally coming home. When Trauma Happens, People Draw: Hiroshima,
Politics Nagasaki, and Unforgettable Fire
Procrastination The tradition of art as a voice for domestic violence survivors has August 25, 2008

Psych Careers spawned a number of well-known programs, including the Clothesline Music and Memory: Get Back to Where You Once
Project, a project to address violence against women. In 1990, visual Belonged
Psychiatry August 13, 2008
artist Rachel Carey-Harper, inspired by the AIDS quilt, presented the
Psychotherapy Drawing on the Effort-Driven Rewards Circuit to
concept of using shirts hanging on a clothesline as a way to raise
Relationships Chase the Blues Away
consciousness. Since doing the laundry was always considered women's August 4, 2008
Resilience work and women often exchanged information over backyard fences while
Words of War, Words of Peace: Writing as Therapy,
Self-Help hanging their clothes out to dry, Part I
Sex the concept of the clothesline July 25, 2008
Sleep became the vehicle. Each year Dance Like Your Life -- and World-- Depends On It
Social Life thousands of women now tell July 8, 2008
Spirituality
their stories of survival—and When Trauma Happens, Children Draw: Part III
commemorate victims who died July 2, 2008
Sport and Competition
from domestic violence—by Humor: The Human Gift for Coping and Survival
Trauma using words and/or artwork to June 26, 2008
Twins decorate a t-shirt to be exhibited Unplug that Plasma Screen, Take Two Doses of
Work on a clothesline. And programs Nature, and Call Me in the Morning
such as A Window Between June 16, 2008
Worlds in Venice, CA, serve as The Power of a Storied Life: A Belated Tribute to
models for how art helps both Michael White
June 5, 2008
women and children develop a sense of hope, possibility, and safety.
May I Recommend Some Rolling Stones with Your
In her seminal volume, Trauma and Recovery, Judith Herman echoes the Cabernet?
May 27, 2008
very reason that violence must be transformed in some way in order for
When Trauma Happens, Children Draw, Part II
recovery to begin: “Certain violations are too terrible to utter out loud: this
May 15, 2008
is the meaning of the word unspeakable …Atrocities, however, refuse to
When Trauma Happens, Children Draw: Part I
be buried.” Domestic violence is one of those atrocities that continues to May 7, 2008
plague lives and for its survivors, is often too horrific to verbalize.
Unfortunately, it may increase and intensify in these weeks and months if More
the expected financial crises continue. And while art is not the panacea for
abuse, it is certainly a way through it and one that not only transforms the
atrocities of violence, but also sends a powerful message that ultimately
breaks the silence. Find a Therapist
Choose the best match from
If you need help, please contact National Domestic Violence Hotline at thousands of profiles.
http://www.ndvh.org/ or phone 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). October is
Domestic Violence Awareness Month. City or Zip Code:
Search!
©2008 Cathy Malchiodi

www.cathymalchiodi.com

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