This chapter provides the history of creative arts (art, music, dance, psychodrama) as body/mind therapies that help heal the whole brain.

Chapter Abstract

“Creative arts and somatic practices have been part of the body-emotions-mind-spirit approaches throughout history in all cultures to bring consciousness, community, and personal connection to life. These practices have been used therapeutically in counseling since Jung’s use of them to develop understanding of the unconscious mind but have continued to be supported through neurological research into how to heal trauma, support healing processes in mental health disorders, and ultimately provide healing for whole-brain access. Dr. Peter Levine’s work in studying trauma responses in animals to reset the brain (1997, 2010), along with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk’s research into healing the limbic brain stuck in trauma, have endorsed the use of both somatic and creative arts approaches as effective with clients with PTSD (1994, 2006a, 2006b; van der Kolk et al., 1996). This chapter will provide the history of creative arts, including art, music, dance, and psychodrama, as body/mind therapies that help heal the whole brain.”

—Description from publisher

Chapter Access

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Chandler, T. L., Shoemaker-Beal, R., & Coker, L. (2022). Creative arts and somatic therapies: Psychodrama, eye movement desensitization regulation, and body/mind therapies. In T. L. Chandler, F. Dombrowski, & T. G. Matthews (Eds.), Co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders: Evidence-based integrative treatment and multicultural application. New York, NY: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003220916  

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