How Art Heals the Wounds of War

The cover of the February issue of National Geographic shows retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Aaron Tam holding a mask that exposes a brain. It's a representation of Tam's own brain, a brain subjected to more than 300 blast force explosions, a brain also repeatedly probed by neuroimaging machines to diagnose his injuries.

But the high-tech machinery of science can reveal only so much. It was the mask created in a program at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, that exposed the psychological pain caused by blast force-the insidiously invisible and signature injury of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. (See more of the masks created by soldiers in the program.)

National Geographic spoke with Melissa Walker, an art therapist who works with veterans to help them heal from the traumatic condition, which has left hundreds of thousands of soldiers with seizures, sleep disorders, and memory and cognitive difficulties. We also interviewed James Kelly, NICoE's director, about the program that produces such vibrant-and healing-works of art.

When did this program start?

Hear from the soldiers behind the masks.

Melissa Walker: The program started in 2010. With all the returning injured service men and women, we needed to look for additional types of treatment. At the time, I'm not so sure people understood the impact it would have. They thought perhaps it would be more of a complementary care option. I had already used the masks in an inpatient unit, and when I came here, it dawned on me I could implement that here. After a very short time, it became clear [they] were taking to art therapy.

Who are the patients you treat?

MW: They're active-duty service members from any branch of service, any age and rank. They have to have a combination of blast injury and psychological health concern.

There's something so primitive about the idea of masks, isn't there? One thinks of shamans and medicine men.

MW: Yes. Masks have been around for so long. They are drawn on caves in France.

Read the rest here:
How Art Heals the Wounds of War