Guide to Psychiatric Museum Synopsis - Case Study Example

Despite its sophisticated art program, the Living Museum is very much part of Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital. Not only does it receive all of its funding and institutional support from Creedmoor, but all the artists (except for Bolek) use the hospital's services. According to Charlotte Seltzer, Creedmoor's director, Creedmoor has changed quite a bit since the mid-1970s when it earned its reputation as an institutional nightmare. Though still considered as the largest psychiatric hospital in New York City, Creedmoor has shrunk in the last three decades to one fifth its former patient population.

At its height, Creedmoor had more than 7,000 patients.Structured craft and expressive art activities both have a place in the treatment of mental health disorders. In structured crafts, the limits of the repetitive and predictive projects can offer reassurance to the fearful person and help contain anxiety. Patients seem to prefer projects with true boundaries, such as plastic "stained glass", sophisticated colored sheets, and mosaics. Completing these tasks successfully also provides a sense of mastery through accomplishment and increases patients' perceived sense of effectiveness.

The more expressive artwork may offer a release of tensions through physical activity, such as ripping paper or using a stippling brush for painting designs on paper or cloth and thus provide an acceptable substitute for an appropriate expression of mental disorders. For example, a client with multiple diagnoses including borderline personality disorder repeatedly burned himself with lit cigarettes in order to find relief from intolerable levels of anxiety. The psychiatrist provided him with a large body outline on which she was able to draw cigarette burns when she felt overcome by these impulses.

The works that I viewed may not seem to be understandable at a first glance for each has a particular meaning to the artist. Expressive art activities may also stimulate self-understanding through the content that emerges. For example, a young mother who has tenacious abdominal psychogenic pain and anxiety inadvertently drew a representation of her pain similar to the symbol she drew for her husband. She was able to connect the pain in her stomach to anger at her husband for not participating in any of the parenting responsibilities.

All the expressive techniques are personally gratifying and increase the internal sense of control and mastery. As a nurse, the experience of being able to visit a psychiatric museum will help me understand the needs of mental health patients as well as their feelings and thoughts. This way, I will be able to empathize with their situation while remaining professional in my manner of dealing with them. This experience also enlightened me that there are other ways to channel one's anxieties, anger, and disappointment instead of hurting oneself or others.

Personally, having my personal artworks exhibited is acceptable for it serves as a medium for me to channel my thoughts and feelings toward productive means. Aside from this, my artworks can also use its aesthetic value if it is viewed and admired by viewers or audience as well as to beautify a simple and usually plain place like a hospital.