ABSTRACT
This masters thesis blends qualitative research with personal therapeutic art making. Between the animal aspects of our being and psychic structures, we carry both physiological survival strategies and ego defence mechanisms. I argue our fight, flight freeze instincts as described in Polyvagal theory run parallel to our paranoid-schizoid, or depressive positions outlined in Melanie Klein’s contributions to Object Relations Theory. The object in Object Relations represent how we symbolise others within ourselves, and our drive toward relationship going back to our primal infantile experiences (Psychodynamic Psychology 2024). With contiguous, inter-folding objectives, this project contextualises psychodynamic theory within the neurobiology of art making, postulating the role of the body in the therapeutic encounter, and as an A/r/tographic study—supports my needs as a therapist with personal trauma history for self-reflection and care.