Abstract
PhotoTherapy represents a recent psychotherapeutic intervention which, through the medium of photography, has the objective of helping a patient reach a higher self-knowledge and explore thoughts, desires, and intimate perceptions that would otherwise remain hidden. Because of this, it may help people overcome their cognitive and emotional boundaries and bring out their interiority, even when exploring some of the most distressing themes. The objective of the present research was to demonstrate that the elaboration and expression of inner desires, fears and needs of wellbeing among adolescents and young adults, who were either sick or had been cured of cancer, could be facilitated through the use of PhotoTherapy. Their responses were also compared with those of healthy young adults, in order to be able to explore the kind of impact such a pathology can have on those who are affected by it and highlight eventual differences in the kind of desires and needs expressed instead by those who never had a diagnosis of cancer. A qualitative research design was adopted. 45 people took part in the study, aged between 12 and 25 (mean age 19). The participants were divided into three groups: those currently being treated for cancer, those with a history of cancer and those who had no experience of cancer (third group). From the data analysis, different preferences and attitudes toward the presented pictures and themes emerged among the participants, depending on the specific group they belonged to. The article discusses these preferences and considers how PhotoTherapy can help treat psychological distress caused by cancer.
Highlights
PhotoTherapy is a recent form of art therapy utilized in both the therapeutic area and supportive interventions aimed to promote wellbeing by facilitating people’s adjustments to stressful events and relieving psychological pain (Stewart, 1979)
This study confirmed that PhotoTherapy can help adolescents and young adults manage difficulties related to severe illnesses and negative past experiences by allowing them to reflect upon their present condition between the past and the future
The most important themes that emerged in the narratives of the first group were related to the difficulties caused by illness and the desire to have the strength to face the fatigue of the climb that the disease entails, to be able to look at the panorama of life and its equilibrium from above, reaching wellbeing
Summary
PhotoTherapy is a recent form of art therapy utilized in both the therapeutic area and supportive interventions aimed to promote wellbeing by facilitating people’s adjustments to stressful events and relieving psychological pain (Stewart, 1979). This form is important, as the psychological projection characterizes all the other strategies, and can be considered the basic psychological dimension activated in PhotoTherapy (Weiser, 2004) In this peculiar process, people spontaneously express their inner meanings, transforming the photos into a mirror that reflects their most significant personal experiences and feelings (Musacchi, 2016), allowing them to achieve a meaningful moment of self-confrontation, as highlighted by phototherapist Fryrear (1983). People spontaneously express their inner meanings, transforming the photos into a mirror that reflects their most significant personal experiences and feelings (Musacchi, 2016), allowing them to achieve a meaningful moment of self-confrontation, as highlighted by phototherapist Fryrear (1983) To activate this dynamic, the therapist does not need to directly address significant and potentially distressing themes but asks patients how they interpret the images and what kind of thoughts, feelings and memories emerge
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