Show and Tell: Healing From Trauma Through Art

Linda Litteral is a survivor of incest and rape who used art to heal from the destruction to the body and spirit which comes from physical and sexual abuse. In this courageous memoir, Litteral shares the story of her abuse, spanning eight years of incest perpetrated by her grandfather, a rape she experienced in high school, and physical and verbal violence she suffered at the hands of her first husband. She offers an in-depth psychological profile of the effects of abuse, including silence, shame, invisibility, powerlessness, guilt, and difficulties with trust and identity. She also illustrates how the body remembers abuse through symptomatology like dissociation, anxiety, chronic illness, and other post-traumatic stress responses.

Yet Litteral has done more than survive her past—she’s found a way to thrive in the present. She generously catalogs all the healing modalities she has experienced in her decades of undoing the destruction of her past, including talk therapy, meditation, yoga, breathwork, Tai Chi, and somatic-based therapies like acupuncture, EMDR, sacral cranial therapy, and Thought Field Therapy. But it’s when Litteral discovers the power of creating and sharing her art that her healing journey begins in earnest. Accompanied by rich full-color images of her art in every chapter, Litteral shares stories about the creation of her pieces, their stunning symbology, and how they aided in her healing journey. Litteral is both an artist and an activist, a fierce champion for survivors, and an unabashed advocate for the healing power of art.