Healing Traumatized Children: Creating Illustrated Storybooks in Family Therapy*

Abstract

In this article we describe the therapeutic practice of creating illustrated storybooks in family therapy with traumatized children. Illustrated stories offer a predictable structure to sessions and facilitate engagement and participation of children in therapy. The therapeutic emphasis of storybooks can be adjusted to take into account a child's life story, verbal capacity, level of anxiety, and traumatic hyperarousal. The creation of storybooks is an active process that embraces important aspects of trauma-specific interventions, including expression of trauma-related feelings; clarification of erroneous beliefs about the self, others, or the traumatic event; and externalization of traumatic stimuli into artwork, allowing for exposure and habituation of the arousal response. A focus on visual images together with narrative takes advantage of children's developmental capacities and spontaneous pleasure in the creation of art, thus minimizing anxiety and enhancing feelings of mastery, competence, and hope. The creation of storybooks is compatible with family interventions that foster a safe family context, strengthen attachment relationships, insure appropriate structure and boundaries, and enhance parenting capacity as well as those interactions that facilitate understanding and dialogue between family members.

Intercultural dimensions in the treatment of traumatized refugee families.

“…If, after a detailed explanation, a family member finds the therapeutic approach too compromising or finds verbal disclosure unacceptable, other treatment options such as play therapy, storybook creation for children (Hanney & Kozlowska, 2002), or therapy focused on consequences of traumatic experiences can be used. Should a parent wish to attend a religious ceremony or consult a shaman, this is discussed and accepted as running in tandem with the therapeutic process.…”

Researching children's health experiences: The place for participatory, child‐centered, arts‐based approaches

“…Many children are familiar with communicating through drawing and story, as “children create order, solve problems and make sense of the world through their drawings as through their language” (Alderson, 1993, p. 70). Importantly, using drawing supports a child's sense of control and mastery (Hanney & Kozlowska, 2002) and reduces power imbalances between the adult and child (O'Kane, 2008).…”

A mental health intervention for rural, foster children from methamphetamine-involved families: Experimental assessment with qualitative elaboration

“…Narratives of personal experience have comprised a central component of a wide range of therapies (e.g., Coles, 1989; Holmes, 2001). Therapists working within a narrative framework emphasize the importance of creating stories as a way to help children interpret and gain a feeling of control and continuity in their lives, rethink views of themselves and others, and begin to alter problematic beliefs (e.g., Hanney & Kozlowska, 2002). …”

“…Cognitive behavioral therapies (Cohen, 1998) and psychodynamically based therapies (Lieberman et al, 2003) deal with the psychological sequelae of trauma and family violence in various ways. Although there is considerable debate within the field, there also is some convergence across diverse perspectives on key components (see Hanney & Kozlowska, 2002), which we incorporate in LSI: 1) Establishing a trusting relationship with a supportive adult is the focus of the first two months of LSI and is emphasized throughout. 2) LSI focuses on children’s understanding of and emotional reactions to trauma through the co-construction of personal narratives.…”