TY - CHAP
T1 - The Art of Resilience
T2 - Veteran Therapy from the Occupational to the Creative 1914-1945
AU - Carden-Coyne, Ana
PY - 2020/4/14
Y1 - 2020/4/14
N2 - This chapter explores how the teaching and learning of arts and crafts not only stimulated men’s personal creativity at a time of suffering, but enabled safe reckoning with, and release from, traumatic memories, calm self- restoration, and even a degree of soft resistance to the military system, all of which supported a degree of veteran resilience. However, it is also evident that sustained resilience could not come from art therapy alone, but rather as a part of personal, emotional, and financial support, as well as an element of wider cultural appreciation of the ex-servicemen’s creativity and artisanship. To that extent cultural education about the potential impact of creativity requires wider understanding in society as a whole to destigmatise the image of the damaged veteran, in turn strengthening veterans’ resolve to actualize change in their own lives. Over-emphasizing the veteran’s agency, however, does not fully recognize structural (social, political, financial) issues regarding trauma and disability, which could also have a negative effect on the resilience of pa- tients in achieving longer-term recovery. Art therapy could be adapted to tailor to individual needs. The danger of seeing resilience as a point in time when ‘inner strength’ is accessed and mobilised is part of a historic conundrum; in the two world wars it was erroneously understood as ‘will power’.
AB - This chapter explores how the teaching and learning of arts and crafts not only stimulated men’s personal creativity at a time of suffering, but enabled safe reckoning with, and release from, traumatic memories, calm self- restoration, and even a degree of soft resistance to the military system, all of which supported a degree of veteran resilience. However, it is also evident that sustained resilience could not come from art therapy alone, but rather as a part of personal, emotional, and financial support, as well as an element of wider cultural appreciation of the ex-servicemen’s creativity and artisanship. To that extent cultural education about the potential impact of creativity requires wider understanding in society as a whole to destigmatise the image of the damaged veteran, in turn strengthening veterans’ resolve to actualize change in their own lives. Over-emphasizing the veteran’s agency, however, does not fully recognize structural (social, political, financial) issues regarding trauma and disability, which could also have a negative effect on the resilience of pa- tients in achieving longer-term recovery. Art therapy could be adapted to tailor to individual needs. The danger of seeing resilience as a point in time when ‘inner strength’ is accessed and mobilised is part of a historic conundrum; in the two world wars it was erroneously understood as ‘will power’.
KW - WW1
KW - health
KW - resilience
UR - https://brill.com/view/title/56973
M3 - Chapter
SN - 978-90-04-42417-3
T3 - History of Warfare130
SP - 39
EP - 70
BT - The First World War and Health
A2 - van Bergen, Leo
A2 - Vermetten, Eric
PB - Brill
CY - Leiden
ER -