What’s the point of therapy for chronic illness?
When you live with chronic illness, it defines so much of your life, even though it only captures a small part of who you are.
There are very real implications to chronic illness (limited energy, many appointments, ongoing stress, isolation), but so much of the shame and emotional pain around chronic illness is due to the messages we receive about what chronic illness means about us. Our culture tells us that we are not valuable if we aren’t “productive”. And that we are a drain on society or our loved ones. And that if we only took better care of ourselves, we wouldn’t be struggling.
Trauma and The Body
In theatre, we understand that humans use our bodies constantly to perform, even when we are not aware of it. An actor embodies a character, changing the behaviors, language, and appearance they usually assume in order to become someone else.
Our bodies are constantly performing the roles we have learned to play, like mother, teacher, neighbor, and friend, and they are also the sites of our suffering and joy, of our oppression and privilege.