Expressive Creativity: Narrative Text and Creative Cultural Expressions as a Healing Praxis

Abstract

Creative expressions as a self-help tool can facilitate healing from the trauma of incest and domestic violence. In this essay, I rely on my own retrospective recollection and document the process of coming to memory and voice, and thus healing through creative expression. I speak to the positive outcomes that the use of creative expression can yield and narrate the process of healing during the completion of a book that examines living inside a house of incest. My path to recovery is narrated in the context of a violence-free childhood and the socialization of valuing creative expressions. This was the foundation for overcoming the abuse survived in adolescence by the daughters of a father who was diagnosed as a sociopath and who was also a serial pedophile. PERSPECTIVES is a special feature included in this issue of the Journal of Creativity in Mental Health that provides mental health professionals with an opportunity to discuss their positions on a variety of creativity-related topics. In this article, Josie Méndez-Negrete, a sociologist, clinical social worker, and associate professor of Mexican American studies, shares her perspective on the healing qualities of creative expression. She offers the story of her personal recovery from sexual abuse and domestic violence and provides a testament to the healing that creative expression can yield.