Artistic creativity as a resource in the work of the psychological support group of Kharkiv Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama during wartime

Abstract

"Abstract The article describes the model of crisis psychological help based on the Gestalt approach, which the Kharkiv Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama (KhIGIP, Ukraine) used in the work of the group of psychological support during the first six months of the war, which the Russian Federation unleashed in Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The main attention is paid to analysing the experience of using fairy-tale therapy (a method of artistic creation) within the framework of the work of this group. The authors highlight a number of resource possibilities of fairy-tale therapy as a tool of the Gestalt approach in group work: gaining a sense of greater control over the situation through the creation of a narrative; achieving greater integrity through awareness and integration of one's own projections; restoring the temporal continuity of the psychological field through the creation of a story containing a beginning, middle and end; improving the psycho-emotional state through the expression of feelings, etc. Keywords Gestalt approach, psychological support group, crisis intervention, war, fairy-tale therapy. "