Part of recovery and coming out of withdrawal from a substance or addictive behavior - one day at a time - is learning to tolerate uncomfortable feelings. Here is a list of some creative activities that are focused on finding safe ways to express our emotions. One of the most dangerous emotions for alcoholics and addicts is anger or resentment, so I will focus on that emotion in this post, but you can do any of these same activities for any other emotion, such as sadness, loneliness, or fear. You may have heard the nemonic HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired), so try to be especially mindful when feelings of anger or loneliness come up, as we are more vulnerable to acting out in our addictions during these times.
Creative Activities:
1. MUSIC: Make a playlist of songs that you can listen to, dance to and/or sing along to when you are feeling angry. I have found songs and playlists very useful, as they give me a specific, limited period of time during which I can practice tolerating an uncomfortable feeling. I also feel less alone, as I hear someone else's voice describing through music what I am feeling. If you are musically inclined, you could alternatively write your own song or learn to play or sing a song that expresses anger.
2. POETRY: Try making a Haiku about anger. Haikus are poems that have a rhythmic pattern. The first line has 7 syllables, the second line has 5 syllables and the last line has 7 syllables. You do not need to write in complete sentences. You can select nouns and adjectives to reflect your angry mood.
3. SPOKEN WORD: Volunteer to be a speaker at a 12-step meeting. Tell the story of why you came to 12-step. What are you powerless over and how has it made your life unmanageable?
4. VISUAL: Draw, paint or photograph an image to go with this quote by Pia Mellody: "Hug your demons or they'll bite you in the @$$." Here is a simple little illustration I created as an example:
5. WRITING: Make a list of 10 reasons NOT to engage in the behavior you have turned to 12-step to seek help for. This can be 10 reasons not to drink alcohol, 10 reasons I don't want to use drugs, 10 reasons not to gamble, etc. For some programs, especially those for problem behaviors, you may want to be more specific. For instance, if you are in Debtors Anonymous, you may want to write 10 reasons not to use a credit card or 10 reasons not to watch the QVC shopping channel on tv. For sex addiction, you may want to make a list of 10 reasons I don't want to look at porn or 10 reasons not to contact my qualifier whom I've been cheating on my spouse with.
6. DANCE / DRAMA: Consider inviting a friend to join you in this activity. This activity may also be used in a group setting. Like charades, without words or sounds AND without facial expressions, use your body – through movement or dance – to convey specific feelings. Focus on keeping your face neutral while letting the emotion out in your body. Have your partner guess what emotion you are conveying. Take turns. Between the two of you, make sure you convey these three: angry, sad and scared. You may choose other emotions as well.
Do you have any other ideas for using the arts to work your first step? If so, please share them as well!
I am a trauma therapist-creative expression therapist and addiction therapist-I moderate a trauma process group-creative expression group and created the first trauma focused IOP program in our area. I have found that Ecstatic/meditative dance, music and art therapy are incredibly helpful for clients that struggle articulating what they feel. Clients that have experienced trauma, adverse childhood experiences or suffer from PTSD and/or struggle with addiction often shut down their feelings as a response to not being heard or cared for. Meditation art-playing soft calming music and having clients use paint or pens to create mandalas can be helpful in expressing how they feel. Further using paint-to demonstrate emotions-shame, anger, fear, guilt, shame, depression, grief, and then slowly adding white to the color to demonstrate how adding light to the darkness creates more beautiful color and emotions-for example the alternative to red (anger/fear) transforms into pink-representing self love and the ability to love-white to black (shame) creates a nearly translucent white representing peace and calm-etc. (you can look up emotions and color to demonstrate further. The explanation to the clients is that as they process openly, journal about, and complete assignments they are adding light to the the dark emotions and allowing themselves to experience a full spectrum of positive emotions. I use the yen yang symbol because it is important to maintain the dignity of their trauma even as we shed light on it. Each dot representing the truth-we are light and the trauma is true. Yin Yang-"The two halves are thus intertwining across a spiral-like curve that splits the whole into semicircles, and the small dots represent the idea that both sides carry the seed of the other" the seed being the white dot the truth of who we are and the black dot the trauma. Many clients who've experienced trauma use addiction to as a way to avoid feelings. It has become their coping skill to avoid those difficult feelings.
ReplyDeleteIdentifying feelings can also be achieve through music therapy. I like using the djembe because it allows clients to reflect on their emotions while sharing them with others. Clients begin by naming a feeling and the rest of the group will follow the emotion until it changes and another client will drum out their feelings based on what came up with the preceding drummer, until each clients drums another emotion.
I highly recommend webinars and videos by Gabor Mate, MD. He explains that "Trauma is not what happens to you, trauma is what happens inside of you: because of what happened to you"-clients must identify what they are avoiding so that they can gain control over their addiction.