Customer Reviews

Sculpting the Heart: Surviving Depression with Art Therapy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"I am an ordinary woman living in an extraordinary, imperfect world."

This phrase sets a poignant beginning to a poignant masterpiece full of humor, honesty and reflection. All of us struggle with depression at some time or another, whether it be from losing our job, or financial burdens we are unprepared for, or some other crisis which steps in and takes control of our lives out of our hands. Depression is one of the most sinister diseases in the world, because it is one that we consider to be ordinary. Yes, of course we're going to feel sad. Yes, of course there are days we're going to feel like we're hanging on to control by a very thin thread.

Guess what? There's no of course about it! No one says that you have to feel that way. You can find an outlet for your depression that allows your heart to heal and your mind to clear by transforming your feelings into a tangible expression through art.

Sculpting the Heart takes you on a personal journey through depression and the healing powers of creative expression. Whether your medium is writing, sculpting, painting or music, creative expression can release the tension and frustration that build up inside your mind and release you from the bars of depression back into the freedom of the real world.

I was so looking forward to reading this book, but was ultimately disappointed by its quality. The book was filled with grammatical errors and poorly written. What a shame - I had high hopes for it. Also, many of the pictures were of poor quality.

What a brilliant book this is. I think it would make a very helpful and caring book to a friend or family member fighting depression.

I love the whole idea of creating art to help heal. What a wonderful idea. This book was very interesting, well written, great quotes that made one ponder, and looking at the art pictures made it a five star book.

This book will help many people live happier lives. I believe it is very inspirational, in that, others will create their own art. Thank you to the author Joyce White.

Joyce White holds that "[e]veryone can doodle and scribble their way to wellness and joy. By climbing up, up, up, to fun, self-love, and up to the angels that want to hug us with creative possibilities." White is a Christian and a keen believer in helping oneself to emotional health through any creative way that one can, whether it be art making, journaling, writing poetry, or countless other means of positive self-expression.

White explores the importance of dreaming, and provides a number of exercises which we can use to heighten our senses. She encourages us to live in the moment, and stresses the importance of letting the symbols around you choose you. Quoting leading experts on art and a number of religious leaders, White encourages us to believe in the healing capacity of meaningful activity. She produces a number of her creations on her computer, whereas others she does by hand. And she makes clear that you don't have to be an expert. As White writes, "Spontaneous imaging does not require talent, time or planning ahead. Anyone can draw on the computer." She finds a use for many different objects, even going so far as explaining how all paper can be recycled to make Paper Mache projects. (As someone who tends to discard a lot of paper, I need to take that one to heart!)

Skilful in a number of different media, White has the insight, gained from personal experience, to realize how art can lift one out of depression. She provides a self-quiz which allows one to work out whether one is suffering from the symptoms of depression. And she makes no bones about her coming from a line of depressives--she freely tells of how, despite suffering from bouts of depression, her family as a whole has been able to grow with joy and love. Not that she comes from an untroubled family background--far from it, as her parents were divorced for many years, but even so, as she readily admits, she was able to give them both care during their last days on earth, comforting and nursing them in the comfort of her own home.

Surviving Depression with Art Therapy is filled with numerous full-color photographs of White's own clay and other work. The text radiates joy, and should inspire anyone who has ever had the slightest yen to start experimenting with any material which can be molded to give voice to one's spiritual search for meaning. [...]

Sculpting the Heart: Surviving Depression with Art Therapy by Joyce White is a book on how art therapy can heal people who have bouts of depression.

Ms. White explains how Art Therapy helps her to heal. She introduces us to the Art Therapy for the purposes of explaining what it can and will do for us. She does insert a few of her poems in there as well as the other art forms she uses to show us how it helps her.

I oftentimes feel that poetry is a good way to express depressional issues as I use it as well. A comparison between the poetry and the Art Therapy techniques helps the reader to understand the depression and what the Art Therapy can do.

Ms. White has accomplished the explanation of Art Therapy with moods and has done a fair job in explaining the events that Art Therapy will connect with. I feel that people with depression will benefit from reading this book.

3 bookmarks
Carol Langstroth, Manager
Mind Fog Reviews

This is Joyce White's 4th Edition in Sculpting the Heart Series. Her uncanny ability to create a poem from a painting or sculpture is quite amazing as well as different. Reading her translations of life through her poetry became quite a journey for me as well as an eye-opener as I saw aspects of life through the eyes of another.

Here is my favorite (and is it oh so true)

Turning Into Mom

I hear my mom's voice many
Mornings when I roll out of bed, her
Eyes looking back at me in the mirror,
Both of us crying a little,
It was our habit to refer back to
Minutes, weeks, months, or years gone
By, when forced to keep doing, as
Opposed to enjoying each other,
When we sat eye-to-eye, we were
Estranged, waiting for our bodies to
Stop hurting, and our minds to stop
Accusing and excusing,
But now that she is deceased, I try to
Simplify my twisted feelings by trying
To forgive and forget, and remember
Our anger at the world did not
Compromise our love.