What’s in the box? Introspection for Self-Decclutering!

While doing my spring cleaning, I realized that I have so many things that I don’t use or need. I started wondering why I do this. In general, I've met so many people that are attached to material possessions (like that old fashion, ugly and unnecessary dress size 0 stuck at the end of your closet), and they won’t give up on them! 

I tried to connect it to the emotional realm and realized that we copy this pattern also here. We live attached to relationships, jobs, activities, behaviors and so on that occupy so much space in our lives and are neither healthy or wanted. We get attach to thoughts or desires, memories and “what ifs” that complot against our happiness and destroy any possibility of renovation. We are so focused sometimes in that one thing or things that we don’t want/have in our lives that we forget to think about what we do want/have. On the other hand, we fill ourselves with negative thoughts and emotions – that feel safe to us because we are used to them - instead of just letting them go and making space for filling ourselves with positive wants and do’s!  

We just keep the negative in order to avoid the vacuum created by the empty space left when we take them out. We are deathly scared of feeling lonely or empty, because unconsciously we believe that if we change - if I get rid of this specific memory, behavior or whatever it is - I will be left empty and alone. I will not know myself anymore. Sometimes we unconsciously choose to stay attached to pain or painful thoughts or memories because of the primary and/or secondary gain we get from it.

We confuse external or shallow change with deep, real transformation. Transformation is not about violently getting rid of, but rather gently transforming through process and healing whatever unwanted pattern we have into something positive. The difficulty here is that we identify ourselves with objects, people and external things. “I am a lawyer – even though I hate it – if I quit my job, who am I”? This is a legitimate fear, but not a real one. Only when we can detach ourselves from others (material or not), we can actually be free. I AM and will always be, no matter the external circumstances or people in my life. First of all I am ME – unconditionally and exclusively from anything/anyone else outside of me - and only then I am X’s daughter, X’s mother etc. “I work as a….” instead of “I am A….” we need to learn how to reframe our life. And below is a great Art Therapy exercise for you to get started!!

*note: I didn’t invent this exercise and sadly I’m unaware of who originated it. Every art therapist takes the basics and then fit it to the purpose of the intervention, and so did I with this exercise. You can change different aspects of it. As instead of papers, you can use stones or any different things that your creative mind can think of.

1. Grab a box. If you are doing this with a patient, present different choices of sizes and shapes.

2.  Design it! Paint it, cut it and/or add things to it. notice: I’ve seen some patients actually taking off the covers (lids) of their boxes, leaving the inside – and its content - vulnerable and open to everyone. Instead of correcting this, I would suggest a dialogue on what does this action means. It might be that the patient is used to the "overexpose and then getting hurt" cycle.

3. Make a list as objective and realistic you can about what you have in your life. DO NOT INCLUDE IN THIS STEP WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE. Keep it as real as you can. Include everything you have and represent you: relationships, things that give you pleasure, behaviors and traits – positives and negatives. Feelings, emotions, activities, things you are getting from others – and here again, include the entire positive and negatives as well. Cut them so they will be each one a separate unit. You can keep it this way or stick each one separately to glass stones, hearts, shells or whatever you like.

4. Separate in two different groups what you wrote:

Group 1 – only the things that represent you as a being. Ex: funny, creative, loyal, critical, lazy.

Group 2 – everything else. This includes: jobs, relationships, material things, your hobbies etc. 

Put these words in a smaller container of the original box size or a small bag (so you can put everything back into the original box).

5. Take a look at your list. Is there anything that you want to get rid of or would like to 

transform? You will notice that sometimes it is not the whole relationship or job you don’t want, but rather a part of it: I don’t want the stress of this job; I don’t want a partner that is so jealous but I want to keep the love between us.

6. Now that you have chosen (please treat yourself nicely and choose one thing at a time or 2 max!), think what would you like to have instead. It is not enough to think about what you don’t want – this is a step but won’t help you get what you want – so if you chose “I don’t want to be lonely anymore” do think what you want instead: “I want to have a more fulfilling relationship with my partner, friends, family”. If your choice is "love" for instance, try to specify what love means to you: companionship, giving, receiving. Being very specific and detailed in your list will help you clarify more accurately on what your needs really are - and will help you achieve them easier. 

In personal traits: “I don’t want to feel insecure anymore” should be “I want to be confident in myself”.

7. Write down what your choices, and put them in a third different container/bag (food bags are great for this).

8. Now put everything inside your original box. Plan a strategy with your therapist/patient on how you can work in order to achieve what you want. Only when you feel very secure and that you have started to have some gaining, think about removing that other things you don’t want. Start by putting it in a different bag and keep it in the box, and then only remove it completely after you have discussed it with your therapist – in order to avoid confusion between the defense mechanism of negation with detachment.

The real cool thing about this intervention is that is dynamic, and you can keep working on it as long as you are alive and willing to transform and renovate yourself. The box could keep changing as we also change with time. Feel free to add/remove things as much as you feel like. 

Feel free to keep things quiet and rest as long as you need. Actually, this is the beauty of this exercise: it provides a phenomenal opportunity for introspection and transformation while respecting the patient’s timing. It is deep and strong while it preserves the patient’s privacy and dignity.

Hope you enjoy! I will love to hear about your experience!!!

Loneliness

Loneliness. Just typing the word makes me chill. Give me a minute; I need to prepare myself a cup of tea. Why not bringing over some cookies too? Maybe a blanket over the shoulders will help. Anything, we’ll do anything to avoid this feeling. The pain of loneliness has been and will ever be the most painful of all existing pains.

Loneliness it’s not just about not having a partner; it can be anything. You can be married and have 5 children and still feel tremendously lonely. Have 10873242 friends on different networks and still be lonely. Go out every single night, spend thousands of hours on the phone with friends, have tons of family around and still be very, very lonely.

And yes, we will do anything to escape this feeling. We will give up on dreams, values or ideals to avoid rejection; we will accede to do things we usually dislike; wear outfits we don’t want, talk and behave in a different way we usually do, go to places we hate, over eat, stay in relationships that are tremendously hazard for us or in a very damaging marriage. We will be loud and fake... and the list goes on and on…but the result is always the same: we go to bed, alone. Then, a tear roles through our cheeks in the middle of the night, when nobody can see us. We suffer in silence, and at the end of the day our loneliness eats our hearts up.

In my early 20’s, I moved to a foreign country, with a foreign language and a foreign culture. At the beginning, when everything was still new and bright, the excitement didn’t leave me any spare time for feelings of homesickness or so. But as time went on, and lights went off, I started feeling very alone. Back then I was already in my last year at Fine Arts School, and had to think about my graduation project. I thought of loneliness. I wasn’t just feeling homesick; I was feeling very lonely in every aspect of my life and wanted to express it. I thought of all the people that might feel this way and suffer in silence. I wanted to give a voice to that one thing that had none. I started painting.

"Silence of Midnight"

"So tired"

Short time after starting, I felt frustrated. The paintings were coming out nice, but I just couldn’t express through them the ideas on my mind. It wasn’t accurate. I felt that the paintings expressed better the emotional pain in the loneliness rather than the loneliness itself.

 People suggested I should give up on the subject and go for a trendier and easier quest. But I wasn’t willing to give up. One glorious day I met a photography teacher of the school and somehow we started chatting. I told him about the project and he suggested trying with photography. He encouraged shooting some pictures and bringing them back to him for some feedback. After shooting about 360 pictures, I came back to him with tons of raw material; he liked it and offered to supervise my work (a must for the graduation project). And the rest is on the pictures below!

"Just Lonely"

"Would you be my friend?"

"Eccentricity can be very lonely"

"Hello...ello...looo...lo"

"So many empty benches"

"The en of the day"

"feeling so small"

I can only say that loneliness is something very hard and painful, especially around the holidays or birthdays when we naturally would like to feel surrounded of love, acceptance and belonging. We all dream of having that person beside us that will keep us warm through the winter, light our days through the summer, hold us when feeling weak and share our glorious moments with us. But sadly, that is not always possible. There are times that nature makes its own and takes our loved ones away, leaving us devastated and broken. Sometimes the one we love doesn’t correspond us. Or we are just too afraid to connect and love again after being hurt so many times before, so we hide behind a protective shield that won’t let anyone come in; even though sharing our life with someone is the one thing we most want and desire in our whole lives. No matter the reason, the pain of loneliness is deep and sharp, and needs attentions, nurturing and healing.

Even though I hate the clichés that good-intended people will offer for advice – such as “if you connect to yourself, you won’t need anything else and won’t feel alone anymore – (and then I think to myself: yuck! Let me see you telling this to yourself if you were divorced or widow or forever single, instead of having a great husband and dreamy children…). But anyway, and even though I hate to confess this, there is something truth in this cheap advice. I think that even though connecting to yourself will not bring your loved one back (sometimes unfortunately and sometimes luckily cause you are better off without this person - though you just don’t know it yet!), there is something about connecting to your pain and giving it legitimization that definitely souses it a lot!.

Try expressing it through any technique: Art Therapy or PhotoTherapy (there are other therapies as well but sadly I am not very learned of them – feel free to let me know about them!). Connecting to your pain and giving it space and shape will make it more bearable, since most of the time what makes it even more painful and scary is the fact that we are not aware of its dimensions and deepness. So instead of facing it once and for good, he becomes our shadow, chasing us and making our lives miserable.

I found a great article on About.com about accepting emotional pain. Here I quote an exact part of it:

What Is Emotional Acceptance? 

"Often, when we have an uncomfortable feeling, such as sadness, fear or shame, our first reaction is to reject that feeling. We may tell ourselves that the feeling is a “bad feeling” that we do not want to have. Next, we may do something to try to get rid of the feeling, such as trying to push the feeling away or using drugs or alcohol to feel better.Certainly, no one wants to walk around feeling emotional pain all of the time, but when we reject our emotions, we may actually make things worse for ourselves (see this article on problems associated with suppressing emotions). And often, emotions arise because they give us helpful information about the world. So sometimes getting rid of emotions is not the best idea.
An alternative is learning to accept your emotional experiences. Accepting means that you practice allowing your emotions to be what they are, without judging them or trying to change them. Acceptance means letting go of attempts to control your emotions and learning that emotions themselves cannot harm you (although, the things we do to try to get rid of emotions, i.e., using alcohol, can harm you). 

Accepting Emotions Is Not Resigning Yourself to Pain 

It is important to make the distinction between acceptance and resignation. Accepting emotions do not mean that you resign yourself to always feeling terrible or wallowing in pain. It also doesn't mean that you hold on to painful emotions or try to push yourself to experience emotional pain. Acceptance simply means being aware of your emotions and accepting them for what they are right now".

For the whole article click here.

I hope this post was of some help. And hang on there!! As someone wrote once (source unknown):

"Everything will be Ok in the end. If it’s not Ok, it’s not the end". 

What is PhotoTherapy all about?

I am an Art Therapist. Since an early age, I have loved photography. I actually graduated Fine Arts School with a Black and white photography project! (i'll tell you all about it on a different post). And as funny as it may seem, I only discovered PhotoTherapy a while ago, and just recently started to use it not just as an extension of Art Therapy, but as discipline itself and the results were amazing. 
For anyone practicing Therapy or getting one, this is a must read! 

Below there is a collage of info on the subject, from different pages that explain and present PhotoTherapy's techniques. 
PLEASE NOTE! I am not the original writer of any of this info, rather I literally copy-pasted the info i founded more helpful on the topic, and at the end of the page are the links to the original pages. Enjoy!

What is PhotoTherapy? [1]

 According to Kelly Gauthier ( "Picture Yourself Well") "Photo therapy is a powerful therapeutic process that uses photographs to unlock repressed emotions and break down personal barriers.  It provides an understanding of the choices we have made and an awareness for the impact they have had on our lives. 
Using photographs in therapy presents an opportunity for you to look at your past experiences and see how they have shaped your present conditions.  Whether it is a personal photograph or one that has been provided for, both allow you to see how memories and the emotions you attach to them can interfere with reality. 
Photo therapy helps you recognize the parts of yourself that are missing and the areas of your life that are in need of attention.  Because photographs have a unique ability to speak symbolically, they contribute to the ease and success the individual experiences through therapy". 

Why PhotoTherapy and not Photo-Therapy?

Judy Weiser - founder of the term PhotoTherapy (instead of Photo-therapy)  explained to me that she prefers using the term PhotoTherapy as one word -two capital letters - for it shows the equal power of the two halves.

Watch out! Two main streams ahead!: 

Judy Weiser explains clearly the main difference between the two main streams of PhotoTherapy. I couldn't explain it better, so below are her exact words! [2]

PhotoTherapy techniques  are therapy practices that use people's personal snapshots, family albums, and pictures taken by others (and the feelings, thoughts, and memories these photos evoke) as catalysts to deepen insight and enhance communication during their therapy or counseling  sessions (conducted by trained mental health professionals), in ways not possible using words alone. (Photo Art Therapy is a specialized category of these techniques practiced only by those with additional training in Art Therapy).

     Therapeutic Photography techniques are photographic practices done by people themselves (in situations where the skills of a trained therapist or counselor are not needed -- therefore the rest of this page is only about PhotoTherapy techniques) to increase their own self-knowledge and awareness, improve family and other relationships, activate positive social change and reduce social exclusion, strengthen communities, deepen intercultural relations, reduce conflict, bring attention to issues of social injustice, sharpen visual literacy skills, enhance education, promote well-being, expand qualitative research and prevention methodologies, and produce other kinds of photo-based healing and learning.

Let's get to work! Where do I start? [2]

I found at Judy Weiser's web page, the PhotoTherapy Techniques in Counseling and Therapy,  great PhotoTherapy techniques. Quoting her exacts words: "the therapist's primary role is to encourage and support clients' own personal discoveries while exploring and interacting with the ordinary personal and family snapshots they view, make, collect, remember, or even only imagine.

The five PhotoTherapy techniques are interrelated and interdependent. 

 Each of the five PhotoTherapy techniques is directly related to the various relationships possible between person and camera (or, person and photograph) -- although in practice, these categories often naturally overlap".

Below, are the techniques presented on Judy Weiser's page (PhotoTherapy Techniques in Counseling and Therapy) and clicking over the links will direct you to her page, were you will find further info about each technique.

	1) Photos which have been taken or created by the client
	2) Photos which have been taken of the client by other people
	3) Self-portraits, which means any kind of photos that clients have made ofthemselves,
	4) Family album and other photo-biographical collections
	5) "Photo-Projectives"

 " Like so many holistic approaches, PhotoTherapy suffers somewhat from having to be taken apart for studying in any step-by-step order, when in fact each technique is partially formed by, and overlaps, several of the others. Therefore, the most effective application of these techniques will occur when they are creatively combined -- because they comprise an integrally interconnected system that is far more useful as a holistic system, than in any linear summation of its parts". Judy Weiser, R.Psych., A.T.R, Founder/Director of the PhotoTherapy Techniques in Counseling and Therapy

PhotoTherapy with...:

Children [1]

In her web page of PhotoTherapy - "Picture Yourself Well" - Kelly Gauthier writes that "Photo therapy has proven to be very effective with children experiencing emotional and behavior challenges.  Unlike talk therapy that children often find intimidating, photo therapy offers a visual alternative and a creative outlet that children are innately comfortable with.
Photo therapy is also extremely effective on children with learning disabilities, especially children with ASD, asperger's, and NLD.  It is because these children are visual learners that photo therapy works so well.  The photographs allow these children to create their own language that the rest of us can finally understand.  Because children with autism and asperger's tend to "see" and "hear" things differently then we do, photographs become the missing link and connection.  With the use of photographs we can now fill in the pieces that are missing and decipher between what they see and what we hear, and what they hear and what we see.  Photo therapy unlocks the door to communication between children and their parents, their peers, and more importantly their society. 
By providing children with an alternative form of therapy, they now have a voice from which to speak".  

Anorexia, Bulimia, and other negative body image:

Please check on Ellen Fisher Turk page. Note: Some pictures in this webpage - although strongly moving and professional -  might be disturbing. 

Photo Art Therapy

Once again, Judy Weiser, R.Psych., A.T.R, Founder/Director of the PhotoTherapy Techniques in Counseling and Therapy was of great help on the subject!! Thanks! (I quote her exact words below, to the end of the page!)

      "Photo Art Therapy" is when photos are used as an art medium by therapists who have also been specifically-trained in Art (or Expressive Arts) Therapy to use art-making for its healing benefits. In contrast, PhotoTherapy techniques are a wider professional therapeutic practice that can be done by (and taught to) any kind of mental health professional, including those who have never heard of art therapy.

      The American Art Therapy Association defines Art Therapy as "the therapeutic use of art making, within a professional relationship, by people who experience [problems]... and by people who seek personal development... through creating art and reflecting on the art products and processes". Many art (or expressive arts) therapists have clients create art during sessions ("making art to make sense"). While such activities might involve photographic imagery or image-creating as an art medium during the primary process of therapeutic art-making, this does not fall under the formal definition of PhotoTherapy processitself because "making art [during therapy] using photos" is not an integral component to ordinary PhotoTherapy practice. Instead, those art-based activities require the skills of a therapist specially trained in additional art therapy techniques, to know how to do this properly (and safely).

      This distinction might seem a bit artificial (and even perhaps unnecessary) from an outside viewpoint, but the primary pioneers of PhotoTherapy techniques who came together in 2009 at the "International Symposium of PhotoTherapy and Therapeutic Photography" in Finland came to the complicating but necessary conclusion that it was time to introduce the formalization of this third categorization (though really a sub-specialty of PhotoTherapy in many ways) -- due to having been encountering far too many art therapists not knowing the difference and thus who kept referring to their own field's specialized photo-art-based activities as "PhotoTherapy" techniques when, in fact, this was not true. Therefore the formalization of the category "Photo Art Therapy" was announced during the Opening Plenary Address of this Symposium -- and was welcomed by all art and expressive arts therapists in attendance as a much-welcomed clarification.

      The actual choice of names for this specialty followed the title first used in print by art therapist and Jungian psychologist Irene Corbit in 1992 in her book by the same name (co-authored with art therapist and psychologist Jerry Fryrear). Corbit explained in her book's section "Why Photo Art Therapy", that:

     "The combination of photographs and art work is a powerful tool for enabling and facilitating one in the ever-present challenge of living a more fulfilling life. The Photo Art Therapy activities are primarily visual, and many of the activities also add movement; all include discussion with a therapist, group, or partner... The creative-expressive nature of the activities is one of the most therapeutic qualities... Another advantage is... its multi-modal nature".

      Thus, a key difference that helps to differentiate "Photo Art Therapy" practice from that of "PhotoTherapy" itself, is that art therapists usually have clients create art as an essential component of their therapy sessions (although, of course, each session might be a different proportion of art-making and talking about it):  

    Whereas "art-making during sessions" is very rarely done during "PhotoTherapy" sessions, a "Photo Art Therapy" session simply cannot happen without it (i.e., in Photo Art Therapy practice, if the "art part" is not happening, then the therapy itself is usually not happening -- whereas in PhotoTherapy practice the "art part" is not essential at all, even if it does occasionally happen). PhotoTherapy does fine without any "art part" at all, becausePhotoTherapy is not about art -- not even about photographic art.

      This is the key reason that NO training or skill in photography or photo-art-creating is needed for any kind of mental health professional to learn how to use PhotoTherapy techniques in their therapy practice (and training in Art Therapy techniques is not necessary) -- whereas for using Photo Art Therapy techniques, these things are primary and essential components of the training needed before using.

Sources:

[1] http://pictureyourselfwell.webs.com/phototherapy.htm
[2] http://www.phototherapy-centre.com/five_techniques.htm

Regression

Regression is a defense mechanism, where there is a reversion to an earlier stage of development in the face of unacceptable thoughts or impulses. For an example an adolescent who is overwhelmed with fear, anger and growing sexual impulses might become clingy and start exhibiting earlier childhood behaviors he has long since overcome, such as bed-wetting. An adult may regress when under a great deal of stress, refusing to leave their bed and engage in normal, everyday activities.

When confronted by stressful events, people sometimes abandon coping strategies and revert to patterns of behavior used earlier in development. Anna Freud called this defense mechanism regression, suggesting that people act out behaviors from the stage of psychosexual development in which they are fixated. For example, an individual fixated at an earlier developmental stage might cry or sulk upon hearing unpleasant news.

Behaviors associated with regression can vary greatly depending upon which stage the person is fixated at:

• An individual fixated at the oral stage might begin eating or smoking excessively, or might become very verbally aggressive.
• A fixation at the anal stage might result in excessive tidiness or messiness.

sources: http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-defense-mechanisms/0001251

            http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/defensemech_10.htm

Acting out

Acting Out is a defense mechanism, where performing an extreme behavior in order to express thoughts or feelings the person feels incapable of otherwise expressing is done. Instead of saying, “I’m angry with you,” a person who acts out may instead throw a book at the person, or punch a hole through a wall. When a person acts out, it can act as a pressure release, and often helps the individual feel calmer and peaceful once again. For instance, a child’s temper tantrum is a form of acting out when he or she doesn't get his or her way with a parent. Self-injury may also be a form of acting-out, expressing in physical pain what one cannot stand to feel emotionally.

Source: http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-defense-mechanisms/0001251

Healing Emotional Pain

By Aiala

Healing your emotional pain it’s not an easy task.

It demands strength, courage and will, which we not always have. The good news is that Art Therapy is of great help here, since through doing art you can start a healing process in a safer way that enables a sense of holding and protection. It’s just you and your art. Your art will become the witness and supporter of whatever you are going through, and will be there for you unconditionally, in a non-judgmental way.

I believe that the process of healing has different stages, all very important and necessary.

The first step is recognizing and legitimating the fact that you are in pain. This can be very hard. No one wants to feel needy and being in pain can lead to feelings of inferiority or that there is something very wrong with me. We are super scared of being judged, called “crazy” or being abandoned and rejected for whatever is going on inside of us.

The good news is that at the time you recognize that there is something bothering you, 50% of the job has already been completed!!As soon as you recognize that in fact something is bothering you, you can start working on it.

So the second step is trying to find out what is bothering you. This is not always possible, since sometimes it is just too soon to understand or connect to the root of your pain (since this action itself it’s unbearable for it is just too painful!). If you do know what the root of your pain is, healing can be easier.

Below are some techniques that I find helpful. You can use either all of them or just the one you feel more comfortable with.

Technique #1: drawing with your non-dominant hand. 

This exercise was first originated by Dr. Lucia Capacchione, who started using the technique of drawing and writing with the non-dominant hand as a healing method in her therapies. This approach helps you connect easier to your unconscious mind, and therefore healing in a deeper way. 

1.       Make sure you have a private place to sit peacefully, without being interrupted or bothered for at least half hour – 45 minutes.

2.       You should have with you some regular white papers and colors (oil pastels will do great and are recommended!).

3.       You can have some relaxing music in the background if it helps you relax.

4.       Close your eyes and try to connect, feel your pain.  In which part of your body its sitting? Try to visualize any shape or color.

5.       Grab a color with your non-dominant hand and start drawing your pain. Since it’s with your eyes shut, don’t expect an exact or realistic result. Just let yourself be in the process.

6.       Now you can open your eyes. Try to see if you can find different shapes or figures (could be only one) in the drawing and remark it. You can add colors and shapes.

7.       Try to make a dialogue with the outcome product.  Questions as: who are you? Why are you here? What would you like to teach me? How can I help you heal? are usually helpful. If you want to follow Dr. Capacchione's technique to the fullest, write the questions with your dominant hand, and the answers with the non-dominant one. 

Example:

The first drawing, with you eyes shut

The second drawing, finding shapes or a picture inside the squiggle.

The Squiggle Game, described by pediatrician/child psychiatrist D. W. Winnicott, is a pencil-and-paper technique for usually used to help children express their thoughts and feelings. Still, i find it very useful to use it for adults as well, specially when the feeling inside is of blockage and the source of the pain in unconscious yet.

Technique #2: Art as therapy – expressing your pain through art doing. 

This is an exercise that invites freedom of expression, and usually I feel much better and relieved after the doing.

In this exercise you just need to grab art materials and literally make your pain. Could be with collage, drawing, dough or any kind of material you feel that represents your pain inside. The amazing part of it is that you can keep going back to this art work and change it every time you feel like according to the evolution and changes of the pain (lessens or worsens) until you feel it starts healing.

To read more about the Art as Therapy technique, click here. 

Example:

A woman made her pain with oil pastels and gauze.  When she felt that the wound reopened, she added red pain over the gauze. At times she felt the wound was healing, she turned the red paint into brown as if it was a shell that started to cicatrize. 

Technique # 3: Healing the inner child.

Pain usually finds its source in unfinished business, wounds that escort us from our childhood years. To learn how to work with and heal our inner child click here.

Technique #4: Expressing and Healing through Photo Therapy.

"Photographs are footprints of our minds, mirrors of our lives, reflections from our hearts, frozen memories that we can hold in silent stillness in our hands -- forever if we wish. They document not only where we have been, but also point the way to where we might perhaps be heading, whether or not we realize this yet ourselves..."  -- Judy Weiser, R.Psych., A.T.R, Founder/Director of the PhotoTherapy Centre

I've noticed that many times we do have a picture in our mind on how we feel or how the pain  looks like, and this picture is very real, even tangible - in a non-literal way. 

since photographs are basically realistic pictures, a specific shot may be associated with emotions unconsciously embedded within these and they can serve as natural bridges for accessing, exploring, and communicating about feelings and memories (including deeply-buried or long-forgotten ones), along with any psychotherapeutic issues these bring to light. Therapists find that their clients' photos frequently serve as tangible symbolic self-constructs and metaphoric transitional objects that silently offer inner "in-sight" in ways that words alone cannot as fully represent or deconstruct {1}.

Examples:

Through this picture, a patient that had recently divorced expressed her inner feelings of being broken. She would explain it as "her life being cracked as a glass, without any chance of repair". Taking different shots on broken glass helped her express her inner feelings and connect to her broken self.
*note: the picture above is not the original one. I decided post something similar that resembles the original one in order to protect my patient's intimacy.

 "The world through my depressed eyes". 

"Trapped in darkness"

In the pictures above, a patient expresses his pain as a long-term depression patient. Through the pictures, the patient could express his feelings of loneliness, helplessness and feeling trapped in his situation. Through this technique, he finally felt he could actually express exactly how he felt. To me as therapist it helped to connect and understand in a deeper way his pain. 
By being able to understand him better, the patient felt relieved in a noticeable manner,  held and understood. This helped him grandly to relief the loneliness and helplessness in his depression, since at the minute he felt that someone (in this case me, his therapist) was there with and for him, he no longer felt alone to deal with all his heavy burden. He could finally start feeling loved and accepted, no matter how dark and scary it felt inside. 
Both pictures are original work, and previous consent from my patient was received for public publishing.

After you have finished working with any of the exercises above, make sure you legitimize your pain. You can use phrases or Mantras such as: “I love and accept myself together with my pain deeply and completely”. “Pain is not a bad thing. It is just a reminder that I am a healthy human being with feelings” “I accept and respect my pain lovingly and completely”.

Remember: feeling pain is normal. We all do many times in our life. Sometimes it just takes longer to heal, depending on the wound. Please treat your pain and yourself with respect, love and empathy. Don’t try to fight it. It will just make you feel more frustrated and helpless and the pain could worsen. Just accept it and eventually you will heal and feel much better.

 If you think you have been in pain for a bit too long and it’s starting to affect your daily life, please read my first article on Emotional Pain and look for professional help. 

Reference:

{1} www.phototherapy-centre.com

Repression

Repression is another well-known defense mechanism. Repression acts to keep information out of conscious awareness. However, these memories don't just disappear; they continue to influence our behavior. For example, a person who has repressed memories of abuse suffered as a child may later have difficulty forming relationships.

Sometimes we do this consciously by forcing the unwanted information out of our awareness, which is known as suppression. In most cases, however, this removal of anxiety-provoking memories from our awareness is believed to occur unconsciously.

Video: What are Repression and Suppression?

For further reading on Defense Mechanisms, click here. 

Reference:

http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/defensemech_4.htm