Domestic Violence and Art

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Children who have been exposed to domestic violence (DV) often struggle with the lasting psychological effects of their experience. It is not uncommon for children to experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of DV, including anxiety, depression, or other trauma-related symptoms.

This article will provide information on how exposure to DV affects children and strategies for healing. It will also discuss the influence that artistic expression can have in the healing process.

Domestic violence has a profound impact on everyone around its victim(s). While the abuse may be directed at one person, the effects are felt by the entire family unit. DV is an ongoing cycle of violence that takes the lives of thousands of men, women and children each year. The impact on survivors and their children can be long-lasting and devastating.*

“When she got angry, she’d break things. This is how her anger was expressed. She would build something, and destroy it. That’s how I see it. And I think that’s how a lot of people who work with art can relate to that feeling.” Sia says she didn’t know anything about art when she first began working with her mother, but soon learned to listen to the stories in her mother’s words and use her own imagination to visualize them in drawings.

All the pieces were done by hand with colored pencils. “It took me forever,” Sia says. “I would sit down and draw every day for hours.” The process of creating the book with her mother gave Sia a way to express the difficulties she had felt growing up as a child of abuse because she could use art as a way of understanding the pain and anger she felt.

“The thing about art is that you have time to really sit with something,” Sia explains. “In therapy, you have twenty minutes or an hour, but I’ve spent days on this one drawing.” She talks about the difficulty of being unable to express what she was going through however much she tried and says making art helped her find out what it was that she wanted to say

I have worked with over fifty victims of domestic violence and their children, and the stories are always the same.

The kids are punished for the crimes of their fathers. They are told they are “bad” by the mother who is supposed to be protecting them. They are made to feel like they will never be good enough.

Many of these children end up in foster care, where they are shuffled from home to home while they wait to be adopted out. Some grow up to become abusers themselves. The cycle continues as it has for generations, and this only fuels my passion to help stop this abuse before it happens.

Art has the power to heal and to break. It can help us evolve as a society while also setting us back. It can be an instrument of change or an instrument of oppression, depending on who controls it. Art is a powerful tool that we must protect and guard against those who would use it to manipulate us and subjugate us.

Art, by its very nature, cannot be controlled or contained by the powers that be. It is, after all, art. As the old saying goes, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” If those in power have their way, they will control and constrain our expressions of self-expression, creativity and freedom of speech. We must not allow that to happen if we are to continue to grow as a culture and as individuals. For this reason we must support and protect artists who produce art with the intention of healing the wounds inflicted upon us by those in power so that they may not reap the benefits of art’s healing nature themselves.

It’s been a long time since I last painted. It’s somewhere back in my life, when I was a very little girl. But it is also right now, because it is with me every day. It is a lot of things to me. It is my job. It is my therapy. It is my home away from home. It is my escape from the world around me, but yet it also keeps me grounded.”

“It’s been a long time since I last painted. It’s somewhere back in my life, when I was a very little girl. But it is also right now, because it is with me every day. It is a lot of things to me. It is my job. It is my therapy. It is my home away from home. It is my escape from the world around me, but yet it also keeps me grounded.”

Domestic violence is a serious problem affecting millions of children across the nation. It can have lasting effects on both the child’s physical and mental well-being. Children who witness domestic violence are more likely to be victims of it later in life and to become abusers themselves.

Telling a child that he or she should not worry about witnessing domestic violence may actually make the situation worse by making the child feel powerless to stop the violence. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network recommends that adults who care for and about children speak openly about witnessing violence, express concern for the victim, and offer support for both the perpetrator and victim.

A study of children between the ages of eleven and thirteen found that those who witnessed domestic violence were more likely to experience depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, nightmares, academic problems, and behavior problems. These problems often result from a combination of traumatic experiences and feelings of helplessness or guilt due to not being able to stop the violence.

Other studies have shown that witnessing domestic violence can lead to other aggressive behavior such as bullying, lying, stealing, starting fires, running away from home and gang involvement. Children who witness domestic violence also have a higher likelihood of abusing drugs or alcohol later in life due to their feelings of powerlessness in preventing the abuse

Abused children, even those who are not physically harmed, suffer the effects of domestic violence. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Children in homes where domestic violence is common are at greater risk than other children for a variety of problems.” (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2005). These problems include “behavioral and cognitive difficulties, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders and aggression” (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2005).

One study found that children who were exposed to domestic violence exhibited higher rates of aggressive behavior in all situations regardless if the child was directly involved or not. The children were more likely to be aggressive toward their siblings and peers. The children also had difficulty with self control. They tended to be impulsive and had difficulty regulating their emotions such as anger, fear or sadness (Slep & O’Leary, 1999). There are also long term effects on the brain. A recent study found that there were abnormal growth patterns in the hippocampus of young people who have witnessed family violence (O’Keefe et al., 2003). This can lead to memory problems and learning disabilities.

The effects of domestic violence on children can be temporary or they can last a lifetime. There are many obstacles to overcome when a child has been exposed to domestic violence

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