last update 03/2005
An
Introduction to Id and Art as Therapy
for Neurosies
and Ataxias
last update 03/2005An Introduction to Id and Art as Therapy
for Neurosies and Ataxias
It is my own personal belief, that outside of standard treatment of symptoms, we have available within each of us a will to survive, the ID. Id can be accessed most efficiently when we are being creative, passionate. In Psychotherapy this functions as Art Therapy, but here I am addressing the physical aspects of the illness, slowing down expected deterioration. Although there is a limited body of evidence which is almost entirely anecdotal, we are each of us free to try this individually. We do not need the FDA to approve a trial, we need only to decide to try it and set to finding our respective muses. Feel free to join in and submit your artwork to the Gallery on this site or post a message here.this page: This Can't Be Happening to Me! - Creativity Speaks Its Own Language
My own story:
This Can't Be Happening to me!
My name is aletta mes, I live in Vancouver, BC Canada, I was born and raised in the Netherlands. My mother was an opera singer, my dad was a research chemist and also an accomplished painter. I was married to a classical guitarist. Used to dance, can't anymore (stopped 1988 or so).My backup plan was journalism, did my bit as a stringer, on-air interviewing, tv hosting. Wrote ad copy (bread and butter). Eventually my energies were so low I ended up with a desk job. Despite heroic efforts not to let anyone know just how my health was deteriorating, I was eventually fired for "drunkenness". Unfortunately I was on contract and not a bone fide employee, and no definite diagnosis either. I had no recourse. All I could do is redouble efforts to find out what in God's name was causing all this.
Some years later I was diagnosed. It was concluded that all along I'd been battling a nasty little disease (SDS - Shy Drager Syndrome, or MSA-A). I'm on my own (separated for 10 years), and there is no cure or treatment.
I have an old theory for which I make myself a lab rat --- creativity can heal -- complacency kills. Unfortunately the mind set when dealing with the ill and disabled is to provide them with quiet and preach peace of mind and acceptance/complacency. Had I followed that plan I'd be dead and not on borrowed time.
I am better when I am in a furious state of creativity, but when the illness pushes me down it takes a challenge, some anger or awakened passion that drives me through the pain and incapacity to again function and invariably I do better. Can anything but creativity and passion explain why Dr. Hawking has survived so very long with ALS? I'm hoping more of you out there will become a lab rat with me.
These days I paint, bead, write, craft toys/clothes for my granddaughter, make little videos (films a size my computer can handle), work on children's books, illustrations, photographs, it all depends which bits of me can work on a given day. My less than capable is my one obstacle to earning a living at it. I live on what the pittance government allots me, which is not nearly enough. I cannot muster it to shop around with a portfolio as I used to. I also do not want to be evaluated as an artist with disability, just an artist. I've endeavored to put some work out there, perhaps the on-line gift items will earn me a little more. Since I cannot find work, I can only hope some of it will find me. If nothing else there is plenty of payoff in how much better I feel when in the creative spirit, even if I am capable of nothing more than planning and thinking up new projects.
I was fortunate enough to find a GP who specializes in performing artists, family medicine and palliative care, which works well for me. I was very fortunate to find this doctor when many cannot find a family practitioner at all, let alone one who has some understanding of the rather unique nature of artists and not afraid to take on patients with nothing more staggering to hope for than a dignified death. Most doctors prefer uneventful patients or at the very least a chance to cure a patient.
The muse I believe can cure, survival after all, is a very challenging and creative process. Please join me and share your anecdotal evidence on this site if you like with a link or submitting an article.
Below I have an article relating creativity and unexpected neurological improvements:
last update 03/2005comments welcome at: my email box
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