FOLK ART AND MEDICAL REHABILITATION
(Zoltán Pető, M.D; Ph.D)
Abstract:
The author, with the help of numerous examples from arts, addresses the question of how to make arts and folk arts an integral part of rehabilitation. His claims, based on workshop activities, show that traditional and various art forms help the therapeutic process, provide it with new forms of communication, release archaic creative powers. They explore ways of socialisation and help to establish individual and collective modes of corrections. The various forms of art therapy provide freer forms of self-expression for the patients and makes their rehabilitation easier.
Introduction:
Arts has ever been to humankind's help to understand ever more of human desire to express ourselves, to understand our intellectual and emotional disposition towards each other. The pictorial, musical, visual, and the three-dimensional material piece of arts are to help us get closer to the other through an autonomous object that is often outside the realm of aesthetic value judgements. Sometimes on a conscious level: making us understand what there is to convey for us, but sometimes without any (conscious) awareness of the reason for creating the given piece of art at that particular moment.
It was Freud's discoveries that made writers, already sensitive to the human psyche's reactions, realize that the author relies on their own unconscious, that their work of art expresses something of the previously unprocessed contents of their unconscious. It was Freud who showed the way to the discovery of the various human unconscious and regressive, pathological and ordinary, repressed desires and wishes. Psychoanalysis is the way to this knowledge.
The other possible way is through the analysis of the work of art by the author, the therapist and the collective. It is an excellent method since it may provide the insight into the psychic processes having created the work of art. The psychoanalytical analysis targeted at the understanding of artistic and scientific works
since Freud's book on Leonardo da Vinci, that is for more than 80 years, has had an ever growing impact on the research into creativity (Nemes, 1993).
In the course of art therapy it is the works of art, and the process of creation that we make us of. These are two related concepts. The work of art in the form of a finished creation is a product. While the process of creation, as the mode of production, is the course of action. The latter is a long and traceable process of experiences. It is the various traces of layers of psychic conditions, similar to those of fossils in prehistoric rocks. They only look like fossils since their subsequent layers are the index of time in which time as an archaic experience can be relived.
Certain archaic elements in art therapy have been pointed out by Irén Jakab. She has shown that the self-healing power of art is an integral part of the therapy. If we recognise this system of archaic layers, we can see that art therapy works through the symbolism of the works of art, through the therapeutic relationships, and through sharing the experiences (Trixler, 1996).
The effective application of arts in medicine has developed in two major trends: art therapies and art psychotherapies. Both trends should be characterised by their respective groups of therapists as well. The former is focused more on the creative processes of the visual, the relationship between the therapist and the client assumes through this modality. Here the interpretative work is not verbal, or not only verbal, rather it is manifest in the piece of art itself. In the case of psychotherapy, its connection with psychoanalytical and psychodynamic thoughts is closer, therefore it is focused not only on the work of art but on the course of the therapy itself as well; it concentrates on the therapeutic relationship, exploring its intellectual potential.
The ultimate objective of art therapy is to establish a therapeutic relationship. To provide help that works beyond the individual and collective verbal and behavioural patterns,
that, from the inner life of the client, brings to the surface a profound individual symbolism;
that, in its dimension, provides more than previous methods;
that provides unknown elements of self-expression through the emergence of new psychic elements;
that represents the creative power of self-expression;
that shows undiscovered ways of psychosocial fields.
In sum: that transforms the word-boundaries into action potential. All forms of art provide the potential for us to include the non-verbal modes of interpretation in our therapeutic means, in addition to the ordinary and often easily comprehensible verbal system of communication. It has several advantages:
it provides us with preverbal forms of expression;
it helps us through verbal break-downs;
it 'embodies' certain expressions;
it objectifies the therapeutic process;
it provides numerous possibilities for interpretation;
finally, it is the bridge between therapist and client when there is no other way left.
It helps to shape creative power, to invest creativity as a potential in the process of healing. Arts help to develop the expressive power hidden in all of us.
Shaping creative power:
It is necessary to deal systematically and professionally with activities whose initiatives are present in all institutions that cater for clients. The need to exercise the (yet) existing and available capacities is present in all forms of medicine. It is equally observed from the somatic perspective that the patient must be busy swimming, exercising, working. So is it according to the psychiatric perspective: The patient must
spend his/her time in a useful manner, he/she should not feel unwanted, should not be a burden for anyone or for him/herself. To be able to maintain him/herself , the human being needs to reproduce his/her own power of 'self' and creativity. In everyday contexts we call this the reshaping, the reproducing of our power of self-production; in sort: recreation.
according to Herzog (1997):"recreation means the reproduction of man's health and working capacity; it is almost a daily need since the tired man of today should live and perform of a good standard." This interpretation is of special importance for us in orientation since, if the activities mentioned are indispensable for the maintenance of our health, it is all the more so when we are trying to find a way out for the people in trouble.
Types of recreation:
· relaxation (including reading, listening to music, watching TV, listening to the radio, going to the cinema, theatre, concerts, etc.)
· creative past time activities (retraining, writing poems, playing music, performances, do it yourself, gardening, dancing, pets, etc.)
· physical recreation (physical labour, fishing, hunting, fitness, sports, competition, etc.)
· sports (when past time activity that is carried out in a regular and sufficiently intensive manner)
In our rehabilitation activities, relaxation is of particular importance, when rendered to serve therapeutic objectives. Our patients often complain about spending their leisure time in some "neutral gear"; wasting their time instead of acting for the benefit of their communities. These thoughts result in feeling useless, redundant. That is why these activities must be rendered to some purpose. reading and listening to music can be programmed through control. Through arranging the events of theatre, cinema and concerts, we can foreground processes of socialization. The physical and sports activities are completely different areas of recreations, which we are not going to discuss here.
Everybody shapes the basic idea to their liking and potentials if she/he wants to secure help. Likewise, he/she would shape it to their liking, when the individual in trouble is hoping, seeking, or asking for help. This is the moment when the need and intention to help may meet: the provision of the appropriate creative-supporting activities for all asking for it and wishing to act upon it.
The situation is easier, though not that much, for those who are autonomous and healthy, who are able to act in accordance with their will and capacities at work, in the home, and in their natural surroundings. It is up to them how far and in what way they make the most of their available and potential resources, what they are to use and abuse. It is up to them how they realize their potentials; though there are numerous examples when people are in need of help in such autonomous cases as well! It is a different case when the individual is not autonomous or independent regarding her/his chances to make use of his potentials. We are all aware of the various limits inflicted by chronic diseases: in terms of time, space, activities and resources alike.
"The imperative of 'Fate, make way for me!', in one form or another, is present in all human beings to differential degrees; today more than ever", says Éva Ancsel (1982). She is the one who also responds to the fallible request when she goes on to claim: "We cannot reduce the question to work-related activities only, it is not only the material to be worked on that is awaiting us but various social problems to resolve. The individual is able to relate to society in ever deeper and more versatile manners only through his/her countless activities."
Our starting point then is controlling fate; creating activities and thereby taking care of one's social contacts. In addition to this start (on the basis of Adorjáni's book and of the experiences he has gained in the Activity Courses he organized), we must not forget that we are concerned with the work of people whose resources and fields of action are limited in space and time. They live their lives within (manifold) disabled contexts due to some illness, health conditions, physical and emotional injuries. They have got into their current state with or without reason. Some wanted their life to take this course; some had no choice but suffer from it. Some are aware of their limits and limitations, some are forced to live their life in a given space because of family, social, or judiciary constraints (Adorjáni, 1996).
Life within limits and health constraints, inflict sufferings. Human suffering related to force can be associated with an old and profound understanding. Trilling, 1979) says that "In Man there is a certain amount of resources for whose outlet there are various organs and capacities; and if their outlet is hindered in one way, it will enhance the efficiency or sensitivity of the other organs or capacities."
One of the most often cited and best examples of this is the refined sense of touch and hearing of the blind. This is the explanation for their (less often mentioned) capacity to differentiate an incredibly rich range of speech modulation, which is probably mostly an acquired skill. Or, the example of those who have their limbs impaired and can replace with an incredible skill the indispensable missing movements that are otherwise unavailable for them.
The other idea contends that "the endurance of suffering is a kind of test and or education of the character". That is, the piece of art or creation brought about needs suffering and this suffering involves experience and persistent activity. "It is also true that for the sake of sacrificing the utilization of certain capacities there exist natural compensatory mechanisms, Man cannot be the creature able to resolve everything completely at all events." He must find something else to compensate for the impaired or never existed capacity or skill, something that makes sense, that can make him understood. And this is a very demanding task! To realize it, we can rely on the vast treasury of self-expression provided by the whole arsenal of folk art and the arts (Trilling, ibid.).
Rebrandt's painting, "Tulp Doctor's Anatomy" is probably one of the most beautiful visual representation of medical documentation. It has assumed an allegorical meaning for us, nevertheless we should see its indisputable honesty and its expressivity to capture the moment. Though, these days an operation or an anatomical demonstration can be captured from almost all sides (in time and space, from the beginning to the end, in its actuality and modeling), yet, poses Oto-Bihajli Merin (1987) the question: "There is no way back; is there one ahead?"
On the way ahead we must find support in the past. Ortutaty and Buday (1982) claims: "We think that, beside collecting the cultural objects, such as carvings, embroideries, pottery and architecture, the preservation of its intellectual treasure, its folk art, is also of utmost importance. This way we can save the softening, weakening voices of the Hungarian regions for the universal Hungarian culture. After all, these tales bear live witness to the organic nature of our folk art as well as to its European connections[…]."
This is the moment for theory and science to turn towards the truth of recognized practice: this is the moment when the value producing folk motives of the every day, when the works of art enabling comprehension and self-expression become practice. The various regional forms of folk art from Kalotaszeg, Vásárhely, Mezőkövesd, Sárrét, Zala emerges with an overwhelming force. It indicates that traditions and folk customs cannot and must not be disregarded. The aforementioned archaic power erupts with an overwhelming force, bringing to the fore the hidden creativity. It teaches new forms of expressions which, at the beginning of the therapy, are unknown both for the therapist and the patient. It brings to the fore all the unconscious and archaic events and experiences taking place in the psyche we referred to earlier on. It helps the therapist to understand his/her patient and helps the patient to bring about his/her self-expression.