Most of us know how it feels to be around someone who is truly authentic, and on the flip side what it feels like to be around someone who is not. Authentic people can often instil a feeling of trust while the opposite is true of people appearing fake or insincere. You may not be able to put your finger on it, it will be an instinctive feeling you have. This article explores the search adolescents must naturally embark on when their identity is developing in a complex westernised society.
Mask making and identity.
Art Psychotherapy research reinforces the difficulties adolescents have with constructing their identity, in particular males. Pollock acknowledges this challenge for males in establishing their personalities and he emphasises how adolescent boys develop a shield that masks their true feelings*. In this struggle to deal with their emotional life, adolescents often experience contradictory feelings between desires for connection with old caregivers and finding new experiences with others. This process of self-discovery becomes increasingly complicated for adolescents whose early life experiences are compromised by trauma.
Moon suggests mask making mimics the common struggle for adolescents in that it perfectly illustrates what is shown to others and how they feel on the inside (or underside) in the act of making the mask**. Children are attempting to navigate the complicated nuances of different relationships whilst their brain develops at high speed with failing brakes!
Larsen draws on the art directive of mask making, explaining that as a person enters ‘concealment behind the mask, there is a paradoxical freeing of behaviour’ which may be transformative in ‘revealing rather than concealing’***. Staying in the metaphor of the mask can often be helpful when encouraging adolescents to speak. A good example of this is using pre-formed biodegradable paper mâché face masks like the ones below.
Pre-formed masks can act as a base for adding various materials, offering personal insights for adolescentsand accurate representations of how they perceive themselves. Multiple facets of identity that exist in the inner world of the adolescent suggests both the underside and top side of the mask offer contrasting symbolic representations of the self. Staying in the metaphor, when considering the strengths of the spirit animal of the tiger for example, may provide a counter narrative to troubling past experiences. Speaking in art therapy sessions through the symbolic metaphor of artwork allows for a safer discussion to emerge. Mask making can increase self-awareness on multiple layers of the developing identity of adolescents. How these aspects intersect will depend on how well they are integrated into the developing self. Examples of overlapping developing identity markers may be gender, sexuality, race, class, religion, economic mobility, education and many more.
Increased self-awareness
Art Psychotherapy supports an increased self-awareness of the unconscious processes operating within the mind, these processes are non-verbal and reside in the body and brains memory. Art-making acts as a bridge between the mind and body disconnection. These non-verbal, bodily processes often don’t have words to help them which is why it is very difficult for people to vocalise emotional experiences. Most people are not aware of these deep processes operating within them which have often been shaped by life’s formative experiences. For example, if a teenager is experiencing high levels of anxiety, they are much more likely to resist help when it is offered to them. Life’s experiences, particularly difficult experiences, live deep within the mind and body, and don’t have words available to explain them. The sensory quality of art materials and the physical space available in the ‘Blue Room’ encourages the senses to discover as opposed to the pressure of conversation or language. All children are different when it comes to how they might engage with art materials. Using wet clay in an art therapy session can encourage an understanding of one’s own visceral experience. Strong instinctual experiences lend themselves to expression with this ceramic material, which requires no tools but can be shaped directly with the pressure of the hands. For children on the spectrum, clay can provide the proprioceptive and tactile input if they crave touch and pressure. Conversely a hyper-aroused child can be pacified by the cool and compact nature of clay. The ‘Blue room’ is well stocked with DAS Terracotta Air Hardening Modelling Clay due to its easy and flexible consistency, quick drying time, and strong structure when dry.
Across art therapy literature the benefits of kinaesthetic artmaking for adolescents are generally acknowledged. The sensory qualities of art materials can provide new experiences on the hands and on unusual surfaces, like mirrors, within art therapy sessions. Blending chalk pastels with fingers and painting using acrylic with the hands offers new feelings associated with new experiences when distressing emotions are affecting adolescents. By intentionally drawing out strengths and engaging in the sensory process of artmaking, adolescents can find new safe ways of coping with their transition into early adulthood.
In this article I have considered a handful of themes which can be important for children going through the tricky developmental phase of adolescence. I know from my own personal experience of various talking, creative therapies, and clinical supervision, I can untangle my own emotions. Self-reflexivity is an ongoing and essential part of being an art psychotherapist, knowing who I am, at my deepest core offers my clients a feeling of stability and trust.
Book references
*Pollock, William. (1999). Real boys: Rescuing our sons from the myths of boyhood. New York, NY: Owl Books.
**Moon, Poppy. (2006). Reaching the tough adolescent through expressive arts therapy groups. Accessed October 2023, Counselling Outfitters.com.
***Larsen, Stephen. (1990) The mystic imagination: Your quest for meaning through personal mythology. New York: Bantam Books.