Thursday, August 21, 2008
Tanya Hartman teaches art at the University of Kansas during the week. On weekends she uses hypnosis to help survivors of war.
Hartman, an associate professor of art, volunteers at the St. Louis Center for Survivors of Torture and War Trauma. She said she first became interested in working at the center because her grandparents were German refugees during World War II.
“I’ve always felt a fascination and a kinship with anybody who has survived a political upheaval,” Hartman said. “I thought it would be interesting to work with survivors of current conflict.”
Hartman became certified in hypnosis last fall and started volunteering at the center this spring. Since then, she has worked with clients from Bosnia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Iran. She said she had to use translators with many of the clients.
Tanya Hartman, associate professor of art from New York, poses for a portrait in her art studio in the Art and Design building. Hartman received her certification for hypnotherapy from the Midwest Institute of Hypnotherapy in Missouri.
Kristin Bulin, executive director of the St. Louis Center, said many of the clients were refugees and suffered from anxiety, fear and flashbacks.
Although the center uses a variety of techniques to help clients with post-traumatic stress and chronic pain, Hartman is the first hypnotist to volunteer there.
“With her skills she can have them be relaxed enough to be in a peaceful place and guide them through some very painful things,” Bulin said.
Hartman said hypnotism was an attempt to disengage the conscious mind and speak directly to the unconscious mind. She said she used the repetition of calming words and phrases to engage the clients in guided imagery.
“It’s like you create a waking dream for them,” Hartman said.
Hartman said she created scripts for guided imagery between visits to the center. She said the scripts had to be unique for each client because an image that created peace for one could create terror for another.
Linda Gentry, owner and founder of the Missouri Institute of Hypnotherapy, trained Hartman at the Midwest Center for Hypnotherapy in Warrensburg, Mo.
Gentry said dealing with emotions from a traumatic experience could be like being surrounded by helium balloons and trying to push them down. She said hypnotherapy helped people set aside emotions and reach understanding and forgiveness.
“When they deal with it, they’re done with it,” Gentry said.
Hartman said one of the most challenging parts of working at the center was hearing the stories and seeing the level of psychological suffering many of the clients were experiencing.
“I think sometimes you can’t fix it,” Hartman said. “You can only offer a momentary moment of peace.”
Hartman said another challenge was the five-hour commute by car and train to St.Louis, but said she always left the center feeling joyful.
“With art it’s so hard to know if you’ve done anything of value, but this is tangible,” Hartman said.
One of the issues Hartman said she tried to address both in her work as a hypnotist and her work as an artist was how people handled collective political experiences and upheavals in their daily lives.
Although Hartman grew up in New York, she said the summers and holidays she spent with her grandparents, who had relocated to Cuernavaca, Mexico, were an inspiration for much of her work.
“My artwork has always tried to address nostalgia for a lost homeland and the experience of displacement, cultural displacement,” Hartman said
Hartman said she hoped to create a piece based on her work at the center, but was just treating the clients for now.
“She’s one of the most exceptional people I have trained in hypnosis,” Gentry said. “She’s going to help a lot of people.”
— — Edited by Becka Cremer
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