How art therapy can help cancer patients

 

 

Managing the complex emotional response to a cancer diagnosis is one of the hardest aspects of the ‘journey’ – not only for the patient, but for family and friends too. Stress, anxiety, panic attacks and pain can force a loneliness which eats away at confidence. For family and friends, meanwhile, there are emotional issues which can be corrosive in different ways.

 

Some people simply travel through on auto-pilot; some find help from the GP in the form of medication; others turn to the arts. Last year I wrote aboutan American art gallery, in Westport, Connecticut, which was working with the Smilow Cancer Centre at Yale-New Haven Hospital to offer art workshops to cancer patients.

 

Using art as therapy, each person was encouraged to paint “in the moment” to express their anger, worries or determination. The result was an exhibition of paintings created by the group of patients, their families or carers – some of whom had never before lifted a crayon, pencil or paintbrush. The result was extraordinarily moving.

 

Also in the USA is an organisation called the Cancer Can Rock Foundation, created by music producer Jim Ebert (who lives with brain cancer). It aims to “give gifted musicians diagnosed with aggressive cancer an opportunity to share their genius with the world through recorded medium – using the finest producers, studio musicians and facilities to ensure their musical legacy to the arts is ensured”.

 

Musician Stuart Jewell is one such person. Recording a song written before he was diagnosed in a studio in Falls Church, Virginia, he explains: “when I play music, I don’t feel like a cancer patient anymore.”

 

Those words can relate to anyone – professional or amateur – expressing themselves through art, music, drama or any other art-form. For those diagnosed with cancer there is often a burning feeling to write – whether blogs or poetry – which becomes a therapeutic companion on the ‘journey’ but, also, shares their experience and therefore acts as a help or guide to others.

 

Dealing with a parent’s cancer diagnosis is difficult at any age but, for Gabriella Kennedy, in her final semester at the University of Sunderland in the UK, it produced a new way of looking at their relationship – and a whole new way of looking at cancer illustrations.

 

Whilst researching the bladder cancer that was afflicting her father, Gabriella “came across microscopic images of cancer and other types of cells, which I found to be beautiful. The shapes and colours were exquisite and I searched to try and understand how these microscopic cells were dangerous – all the while thinking I might lose my father and the relationship we had.”

 

 

Wanting to illustrate that relationship – and also to find a way of portraying her experience of the ‘journey’ - Gabriella decided to “photograph items that are significant to our relationship and use them to describe how we look at things differently when we find ourselves in situations like this.”

 

Gabriella chose her six objects – which included her baby blanket and a letter from her father – and, borrowing an electron microscope from the University’s Science Department, photographed them. Inspired by her visits to her father in hospital, she then encased the photographs in a light box to simulate those used to view x-rays.

 

The images formed the basis of her final year project. “It was the only thing I could think about and I knew it would be a constant strain on my mind and thought I would use it to contribute towards my work, rather than hinder it,” she says.

 

Following the hugely positive reaction to her work, Gabriella has applied for an M.A. course in photography at the University of Sunderland and, on completion, will join her US Air Force boyfriend in Las Vegas, Nevada. Meanwhile, she is looking for an exhibition space to allow her work to be seen by more people – perhaps a hospital or cancer centre would have wall space? Please contact Gabriella on gabriella.kennedy@hotmail.com. Her unusual use of photography to express her feelings of fear must be a great inspiration to others.

 

Gabriella’s father has had surgery to remove the cancer and is “on the road to recovery but has a long way to go.” Bladder cancer has a 50% survival rate and causes 5000 deaths each year in the UK. For information please log on to Fight Bladder Cancer or Action on Bladder Cancer. Macmillan Cancer Support runs an Information and Support Service, which offers “advice, guidance and listening ears”.

 

Whether you are a seasoned professional artiste, a gifted amateur or a total beginner, therapeutic participation in one of the arts can be of enormous help in giving vent to feelings of anger, fear and isolation which, all too often, arrive with the cancer. Channelling emotions onto paper; into musical notes; through dance or drama; or, as Gabriella did, by using the eye of a camera - all can help.

 

Sometimes, participating in the medium of art simply allows you to take time off from the word ‘cancer’.