Quote of the Day

Kathy is a nine year old girl who witnessed injured people at the scene of the Omagh bomb. She was in a chip shop with her cousin not far from where the bomb exploded. Neither were injured, however, Kathy suffered from nightmares, poor concentration, absenteeism from school and she reported feeling afraid of something happening in the dark.

Kathy attended her first session with her mother and said she felt nervous. She began painting and seemed to be influenced by work from ‘The Peace of Mind’ exhibition which was displayed in the room. She painted a large orange sun with purple glasses and where the mouth was supposed to be, she painted the word ‘Peace’. Many of the children seen have started with safe activities such as copying pictures and drawing cartoon figures.

Cathi Malchiodi states that "children who are traumatized by violence their art expressions are simplistic, often resembling stereotyped cartoons or doodles" (Malchiodi, 1998, p. 137). It was not until Kathy’s third session that she began to talk about her experience of the bomb. Malchiodi also found that ‘Art expression seems to be well suited as a modality with children in trauma because it may be easier for them to use visual modes of communication before being able to talk about trauma" (Malchiodi, 1998, p. 135).

Kathy had painted a yellow A4 page orange and decided to use it to draw on. She used an ordinary sketching pencil and drew the images she remembered. She described them as she drew. One was a man with a finger missing, who was shouting "Help!" Another figure was a lady lying on the ground with ripped shopping bags beside her, she had a piece of glass stuck in her neck. She was crying "Please, help me!"
There was a mother with a small boy with lots of tears and blood. She also drew a building with windows shattered. The sun is hiding behind cloud with a sad face and a tear.

In his paper, ‘Characteristics of Art Work in Children With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Northern Ireland’, Terry Tibbetts found that "the sun with a sad face, is often symbolic of children exhibiting depressive symptomatology" (Tibbetts, 1989, p.95). He also found that "one of the most striking findings…. is the almost lack of colour in the drawings" (Tibbetts, 1989, p. 96). He found most to be either "black or monochrome"

In session twelve, her last session, Kathy made a mandala from clay which she sat on a pale green A4 page. A mandala is a symbol, usually circular, representing the universe. She mixed up four different shades of purple and painted it. She also used the colours to paint the words ‘Circle of Life’ around the mandala. On mandalas, Malchiodi cited Jung: "Jung believed that the mandala constituted an archetypal image of the objective unconscious, symbolizing balance and harmony" (Malchiodi, 1998, p. 78).

In this session Kathy expressed her wish to finish art therapy as she felt that she was no longer afraid, and this was reflected in her being more creative, playful and experimental in her art work.

DELIA McGUINESS et al
McGuiness, D.; Carney, J. and McGeehan, I. (2000) Crossing the Bridge of Hope with Children in Omagh. Child Car in Practice. Vol.6 No.4. pp 312-313