Witnessing, Visibility, and the Experience of Self

Abstract

This study examines the experience of self during the recovery process of women with a history of childhood sexual abuse who utilized art therapy in their recovery processes. Six women participated in this qualitative study. A social constructionist and relational feminist approach guides this research in an attempt to correct the imbalance created through the exclusion of women's voices in traditional research (Belenky et al., 1986: Harding, 1991). Two unstructured interviews, approximately nine months apart, were conducted with each woman. The interview data was analysed and synthesized in a way that resulted in two distinct formats for the presentation offindings: individual summaries of each participant's story and the uncovering of two significant themes. The two themes and their sub-themes weave together each woman's experience of self and experience of the art therapy process. The women experienced the self as subjective and as in relation to others and experienced change in the degree of connection to self and others prior to and during their recovery processes. The art therapy process was experienced as both involving a three-part process of connecting to self, expressing self, and healing of self and of providing an experience of being witnessed and becoming more visible. The summaries, which are not presented here due to the amount of data, indicated that art therapy had a very positive impact on each woman's recovery process.