Expressive Arts and Trauma-Induced Toxic Shame

Immersive, creative, and expressive arts are powerful tools for transforming trauma. Toxic Shame is a common symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  Scientists have been researching the use of expressive arts for many decades and have determined that EXA, expressive arts therapy (music, dramatic arts, creative writing, dance and movement, film, and visual arts), is highly effective in helping others manage emotional, physical, and mental reactions to trauma. Expressive Arts Therapy  (EXA) can be a safe, powerful choice for those seeking transformational healing from trauma-induced toxic shame.

What Is Trauma?

There are many different types of trauma, and what is traumatic for one person might not be traumatic for another. A traumatic experience is generally an extremely powerful or terrifying event or situation that might result in devastating long-term emotional, mental, or physical effects and symptoms. These experiences often occur during childhood, although they can occur later in life as an adult. There are four basic types of trauma:

1. Secondary trauma—Secondary trauma occurs when someone witnesses someone else’s trauma. Family members or healthcare providers might experience secondary trauma through others who are directly affected. Many who watched on television while massive numbers of people died in local hospitals during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic may have experienced secondary trauma.

2. Acute trauma—A single traumatic physical, mental, or emotionally stressful or potentially harmful event

3. Chronic trauma—repeated abusive trauma such as domestic violence, neglect, or prolonged bullying.

4. Complex Trauma—Multiple traumatic events, such as sexual assault, a car accident, domestic violence, and a natural disaster resulting in loss of home, physical injury, or death of family members.

Childhood Trauma Can Result In Toxic Shame

A child or adult might experience a traumatic reaction to an event they find threatening or potentially harmful. For example, occasionally, Lydia finds herself experiencing a moment of anxiety due to past acute trauma. Whenever she sees the image of a frog, she feels anxious and afraid. This overwhelming feeling of stress suddenly occurs whether she sees a child’s toy frog, a bullfrog jumping in a movie, or a beautiful landscape painting with a small frog image.

For most of us, the image of a frog doesn’t trigger anxiety. However, when Lydia was six years old, she was pushed into a pond by bullying classmates while walking home at night, and a large bullfrog crawled into her shirt, frightening her. The children were amused and laughed at her extreme reaction. Two of the children threw a frog at her, teasing her and calling her names like “whimp,” “sissy,” and “loser.” For young Lydia, this was terrifying, and she ran home in a panic, shivering with fear. Today, as an adult, she recognizes she continues associating the emotional reaction of shame, humiliation, and pain with the visual image of a frog. Later, this bullying experience resulted in toxic shame. But there is hope for Lydia. She has mastered a powerful technique to manage post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.

What Is Toxic Shame?

Toxic shame is often connected to trauma. Toxic shame is an unhealthy, chronic, physically and emotionally destructive reaction based on feelings of self-hatred, low self-esteem, and worthlessness. It is often based on an adverse childhood or adolescent experience, such as abuse, neglect, trauma, or mistreatment by others. Toxic shame can remain with us for a few months, years, or a lifetime. Still, it is successfully managed after we accept and understand the dynamic relationship between the traumatic event and the resulting feelings of pain, shame, or blame.

What happened to Lydia was traumatic for her. However, not everyone who experiences this type of situation will experience PTSD. Some might have laughed in a similar situation. People can learn to stop choosing to look at the painful situations and the people associated with these situations as being “bad.” They can learn to accept the underlying cause of trauma and find safe, healthy ways to manage symptoms and experience forgiveness, joy, and peace.

For example, Lydia might be shopping for holiday gifts with her friend Janelle and see a ceramic frog in a store window. Yet, after therapy, Lydia learns to accept her reactions; instead of blocking the anxiety, she chooses to face, embrace, and replace pain, shame, or blame with positive coping strategies. She takes a moment, regains her composure, uses her creative imagination through the expressive arts, and continues shopping with friends. She finds joy.

How Do I Know If I Have Traumatic Toxic Shame?

People experiencing toxic shame as a result of PTSD may elicit many different negative coping strategies and behaviors, such as constant self-criticism, low self-esteem, blame, victimization, depression, isolation, self-hatred, sleepiness, fear, panic, flashbacks, mood swings, perfectionism, sensitivity, procrastination, brain fog, eating disorders, irritability, gossip, blame, codependency, neglect, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, lying, denial, stealing, hopelessness, avoidance behaviors, hoarding, and multiple undiagnosed physical symptoms (for example, physical pain, digestive problems, twitching, rashes, heart palpitations, etc.). However, these symptoms can be caused by a number of different physical or psychological issues. If you have experienced a devastating situation or event where you felt threatened or in danger of being harmed, and you later experience high levels of anxiety, panic, depression, self-loathing, or low self-esteem, you might be experiencing traumatic toxic shame. It’s important to talk to a trusted doctor or healthcare practitioner about your symptoms.

Who Can Help Me With Trauma And Toxic Shame?

Most of us do not eliminate trauma memories, but we learn to manage our trauma symptoms and reactions and live a life filled with joy and love. Good friends, understanding family members, and certified professionals are essential to those experiencing toxic shame. Helpful professionals include certified trauma specialists, doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, social workers, nurse practitioners, addiction counselors, and ministers. Those with a strong, supportive community are more successful in transforming trauma and reaching their goals.

The key to successful trauma recovery is seeking out and accepting help to feel, reveal, and heal. A variety of therapeutic approaches help manage PTSD and toxic shame symptoms, such as dialectical behavioral therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and all of the expressive arts therapies (EXA). The expressive arts therapies include dance, art, drama, creative writing, and play therapy. These therapy sessions can occur in private or group settings.

Why Is An Expressive Arts Session Effective?

For centuries, research has confirmed the profound effectiveness of the expressive arts (EXA) in helping others manage trauma and the emotional, physical, and mental symptoms and reactions that accompany it. Whether a group knitting class, a dramatic arts class, or a private dance and movement session, the arts are well-known for providing a safe space to express oneself and release blocked emotions and feelings. However, participating in the arts, such as listening to music while sculpting clay, is not the same as engaging in music and sculpting with the guidance of a registered or certified expressive arts practitioner, teacher, therapist, or coach. A grieving woman, for example, can write a poem after the death of her husband while worrying about an upcoming doctor’s appointment. However, a professional in the expressive arts therapy (EXA) field will help the client stay focused on moving through grief and trauma while using the creative, expressive, and performing arts.

What is An Immersive Arts Experience?

The immersive EXA session typically uses two or more simultaneous expressive arts experiences, such as music, creative writing, and drawing. The benefits of immersive arts are to help others struggling with identifying their feelings and releasing blocked energies through the arts in a safe, nonverbal platform. The therapist may use various creative tools, such as paints, clay, needlework, craft-making materials, 3D or AI-generated imagery,  toys and games, filmmaking apps, and spontaneous exercises using the creative imagination.

An immersive EXA session varies depending on the preferences of the client. The therapist will ask clients to choose the type of sessions they prefer (group or private) and which type of creative arts they enjoy. Clients arrive prepared to express themselves through the creative arts experience (jewelry making, clay sculpting, creative writing, woodworking, dramatic role playing, music making, etc.). The therapist greets the clients and reviews what was shared at previous sessions. Clients are encouraged to explore and communicate their feelings and experiences. If it is a group session, people attending it might talk with one another while creatively expressing themselves, or they might create in silence while listening to music, for example. After the session, clients can openly share their experiences or silently record insights and lessons learned in their journals. The therapist closes the session by asking what benefits were received and what goals each client would like to accomplish between now and the next session.

Summary

Traumatic experiences can result in toxic shame, pain, and blame. Yet, good friends, compassionate and understanding family members, and certified professionals are extremely helpful to those suffering from trauma in expediting and alleviating symptoms associated with toxic shame. Expressive arts therapies (music, visual art, dance or movement, dramatic arts, and play therapy) are highly ranked and scientifically proven as safe, powerful, transformative modalities for managing pain and shame associated with trauma.

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Jean Voice Dart, MS, CATP,  and Certified Grief, Trauma, and Pain EXA therapist, teacher, and coach, has witnessed a lifetime of transformation using the expressive arts with emotional or physical challenges such as generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, TBI, coma, neuropathy, paraplegia, domestic or sexual violence and assault, autism, memory loss, chronic pain, aging, ADHD, speech disorders, stroke, hearing loss, blindness, depression, and more. People working with Jean learn to feel, reveal, and heal by managing trauma and toxic shame symptoms with easy and effective creative techniques.

You can experience Jean’s EXA tool at the Wellness Universe workshop, “A Magical Journey with Jean Voice Dart: A Three-Minute Trauma Transformation.” Those attending will receive the mini booklet, “Toxic Shame: Twenty-Five Red Flag Symptoms and Twelve Transformational Tools.”

Connect with Jean on The Wellness Universe and follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

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