Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil.
The negative psychological effect of rape on survivors has been extensively researched, with most studies emphasising rape-related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) its symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. Interventions described in the current literature mainly aim at measuring and reducing symptoms, and restoring functioning in rape survivors. Group art therapy has been used with adult and adolescent survivors of incest with encouraging results, but little research has been published regarding its use with rape survivors. My intention in the current study is to examine the utility of a group art therapy intervention with adult female rape survivors in a South African context. I selected a postmodern feminist theoretical basis for the study, and examined the societal discourses that promote women’s disadvantaged status and high levels of rape in South Africa. I used qualitative methods to analyse the art works, journals and transcripts produced by three participants during seven weekly group art therapy sessions. I used postmodern feminist research methods, such as participant observation, reflexivity, and concepts such as situatedness, bodiliness, relatedness and plurality of explanations to assess the women’s lived experience of rape, their recovery from it, and the intervention itself.
The current study proposes that analysing the data reveals metaphors, symbols and meanings that represent the lived experience of the women participants in the group art therapy intervention. I used a grounded theory approach to data analysis, as well as methods from content analysis, visual anthropology, iconography, social semiotics and visual cultural studies in order to assist with triangulation of the visual and verbal data. The data was voluminous and rich, and fourteen strands of meaning emerged from the data, consisting of vivid metaphors, visual and verbal symbolic language, and insights into the challenges and victories of each of the participants. I gathered these strands under two overarching themes: one of themes related to the rape, and the other related to the group art therapy experience.
I conclude that group art therapy was useful to the participants, and that the data analysis gave considerable insight into the individual nature of recovery from rape, such as coping mechanisms, influence of personality on recovery, the dialectical nature of recovery and the difficulty of recovering from a trauma that affects every area of functioning. The current study provides a structured format for clinicians interested in group art therapy, and I have provided suggestions for those who wish to replicate the intervention. My findings propose that the intervention was a powerful therapeutic tool for the participants, and that it provides a structured short-term group outline for use with the vast numbers of rape survivors in South Africa.