A person affected by disaster, violence or abuse, may be overwhelmed by feelings of fear, anger and shame. Often, such a person looses all power to assert himself and cannot think of anything else than the calamitous experiences.

Or, the opposite, the person freezes and pushes away al painful thoughts and memories. In either case balance is lost and leading a normal life becomes impossible. The resulting trauma may lead to everlasting disorientation.

Most people recover with the help of their family or caring community members. However, if the symptoms do not reduce it is possible that one develops a Posttraumatic Stress Syndrome – a form of psychopathology, where one is no longer capable to overcome the mental damage without specific treatment.

To help adults or children in coping with traumatic experiences it may be necessary to expose them to the painful emotions resulting from those experiences. When words fail or are lacking altogether, art therapy can inspire emotional reliving and final digesting of the events. Assignments as in art therapy can make it easier for a person to no longer avoid the confrontation of suppressed feelings like fear, powerlessness, anger, shame and guilt. The purpose of these assignments is recognition and acknowledgement of these feelings. Only after this has taken place can the affected person understand these feelings and find a place for them in the story of his life.