[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 126 (Thursday, October 7, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10688-S10689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              ART THERAPISTS VITAL TO THE CARE OF VETERANS

  Mr GRAHAM of Florida. Mr. President, today I bring attention to the 
impressive work that art therapists do with our Nation's veterans and 
the significant accomplishments they have made in this field. Art 
therapists provide effective treatment and health maintenance 
intervention for veterans, focusing on all of their life challenges, 
such as mental, physical, and cognitive impairments. Intense emotion 
and memory, often difficult to convey in words, often are more easily 
expressed in images with the guidance of a trained clinician.
  Art therapists are master's level mental health practitioners trained 
in psychology, psychotherapy, and the interface with the arts modality. 
The American Art Therapy Association establishes national academic 
standards of education and clinical practice. After September 11, art 
therapists assisted both survivors and the bereaved, drawing out their 
traumatic experiences and dealing pictorially with the horror as they 
moved through the various stages of grief. Similarly, art therapy is 
used with veterans who struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder 
(PTSD).
  Research has demonstrated that traumatic memory is not stored in a 
fashion that can be expressed only through words. Instead, it is 
retained as visual, auditory, olfactory, and other sense mechanisms. 
Images may return as flashbacks or nightmares that the veteran is 
unable to integrate as memory. As a result, these impressions remain a 
toxic force, causing intense fear and leading the veteran to try to 
shut off all memory and emotion and possibly leading to depression, the 
inability to properly function day to day, and estrangement from 
family. The traumatic experiences that a veteran is unable to discuss 
or confront, however, can instead surface through artwork. The process 
of creating the artwork and externalizing intense issues help the 
veteran to regain control, integrate horrors into manageable memory, 
and allow feelings to be experienced again.
  For example, a former Marine who served in Vietnam and struggled for 
years with feelings of inadequacy and fear in crowds benefitted 
considerably from art therapy. He has said that it enabled him to 
address problems he otherwise did not have access to, thereby helping 
him to ``mourn the pain. . . overcome . . . and feel comfortable 
within'' himself. Another serviceman drew out his dreams as a way of 
placing combat experiences into the past and therefore to function more 
effectively in the present. Such life-enhancing and cost-efficient 
intervention is not only viable as a treatment option, but may be 
preventive by forestalling full-blown PTSD. Given the number of 
veterans gradually returning from the current war in Iraq, art therapy 
has the potential to assist them as a form of rehabilitation. The 
American Art Therapy Association is currently investigating possible 
sites and funding sources for conducting outcome studies on the 
efficacy of art therapy with veterans.
  I would also like to mention with pride that more than 100 registered 
art therapists live and work in my home State of Florida. These 
therapists practice all across the State, from my hometown of Miami all 
the way up to the Panhandle. I am so pleased that almost every 
veteran--or anyone else--residing in Florida has access to the benefits 
art therapy can offer.
  As ranking member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I support 
the use of art therapy programs in the Department of Veterans Affairs 
health care facilities, and I recognize the contribution of art 
therapists to the effective reintegration, enhanced coping,

[[Page S10689]]

and quality of life for our veterans. During this crucial time in the 
history of our Nation, I encourage my colleagues in Congress to do the 
same.

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