Expressive Arts: A Comfort in Challenging Times

When Michael Koran, 83, came to Dana-Farber for a recurrence of sinus cancer, he received unwelcome news — the cancer was no longer treatable.

The focus of Koran’s care then shifted to managing his symptoms and finding ways to cope with the emotions he was experiencing. Koran’s care team offered him expressive arts therapy.

“They gave me Meg,” says Koran, referring to Megan Carleton, a board-certified art therapist and Expressive Therapies Program Manager at Dana-Farber’s Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living. “We go places together emotionally and spiritually that help make every day better than any day before.”

Michael Koran, pictured with his partner, Michelle Schou, utilizes a variety of expressive arts to cope, including hand gestures, visualization, and storytelling.

Expressive arts therapy is rooted in psychology and the arts. It draws on a variety of artistic approaches — including painting, drawing, writing, movement, sound, and more — to help people express themselves, learn coping skills, and improve wellness. Research has shown that expressive arts therapy helps patients with cancer reduce feelings of distress, anxiety, and fatigue.

At the Zakim Center, Carleton leads group workshops where she cues activities, such as doodling, that are a form of mindfulness meditation practice. During individual therapy sessions, she explores different types of art and expression to learn what resonates with each person. Self-directed projects, such as origami, are available in the Zakim Center waiting room for patients to take home and try.

“One of the beauties of creative arts is that there are multiple levels and many different forms of expression,” explains Carleton. “I guide patients in moving through experiences that feel supportive and safe, and together we find a form of expression that meets the patient’s needs at that moment and often helps bring a sense of wellness and joy in the days ahead.”

The exploration of a person’s experience with cancer differs for everyone. Some patients come to Carleton seeking ways to enrich their lives at a time when treatment is limiting or draining. Others come seeking stress relief, mindfulness, or a moment to feel supported and joyful.

Before Koran and Carleton met for the first time, a box of art supplies arrived at his door. During his first session via Zoom with Carleton, he opted for a mindfulness experience of folding tinfoil as a first foray into the practice, finding beauty in the ordinary. Later, his natural gift for storytelling guided him and Carleton to explore other modes of expression.

Over time, Koran realized that deep-seated anger from past trauma was making it hard for him to feel pleasure in the present. He began working through his emotions with Carleton. She asked him to assign them colors and names. Koran imagined streams of black anger and red love flowing from the crown of his head and intertwining to become a dark red of “fierce love.” He and Carleton created a gesture, what Koran calls a “mudra” — a fist over his heart with his other hand hugging that fist — that helps him aim this sentiment toward the hearts of others.

“Carleton’s healing is mind-boggling,” says Koran. “I never would have dreamed of the ability to send fierce love to others and even to myself.”