Dissociation Disorder and Anixety

There is nothing horrible about dissociation disorder, only what caused it in the first place. A person experiences such a traumatic event beyond his or her control that the brain disconnects itself from the trauma for protection. Sometimes this person can go into a catatonic state and completely disconnect with reality, unaffected by physical touching or someone trying to speak to him or her. 

A more through definition is given here, 

Dissociate: the experience of detaching from reality. [] in this state, consciousness, identity, memory, and perception are no longer naturally integrated. Dissociation often occurs as a result of stress or trauma, and it can be indicative of a dissociative disorder or other mental health condition.  Psychology Today

Mental disorders are best seen without judgement; we don't know what's really happening beneath the surface. Patience and understanding comes hard when we are confronted by this behavior when the person is acting unnaturally. Triggers to the mental state can make them agitated or withdrawn and make the person more isolated from everyone else. There is therapy to help with this, but there is no definite cure. 

People with this disorder can take care of themselves, with assistance and using a creative outlet.

There are two books I'm going to discuss here, one of poetry and one by a psychologist. 

Published 2022

  Her poems are simple and illustrated in black and white. A few are one-word sentences blending together and describing her emotions.

   I brought this book for the poetry and the rainbow on the book cover, this made made me have many emotions, some about how your perceptions control the person depending on her environment. How the brain shifts and compartmentalize to protect itself from harm. I may be repeating myself here, it's difficult to explain. The brain shuts out the trigger and becomes someone else. There. 

Published by Psychology
Innovations Press, 2023

    This is an introductory book explaining what dissociation is and how it affects behavior. It tells how the mind reacts to trauma and the coping methods to manage this condition.

    

Art in Life and Altered Books

    

How Art Can Be Used in Society

Victoria Townsend

All images belong to the copyright owner in this article.

    For a long time, I thought about this question and how to make a career with art after college. I was starting completely from scratch and did research before graduation. Two things that stood out the most was social media and art galleries. I was working a full-time job to support myself, so there wasn't much time to find a gallery, pay for the space to show my work and pay for advertising. There were applications and queries to art companies, but no luck. I kept drawing and painting anyway. In doing so, it helped me to think and find new ways of going forward. I learned I needed to be around people and not in a room, so I drew outside sometimes doing impastos of the landscape or buildings. It felt very alien as nobody really does that anymore, and I was stared at the few times I did that. Now, it's using pictures from the internet I have seen most other artists do. The few artists that draw or paint directly from nature are rare nowadays.

    Art is useful and can be pleasing to the eye. A car, for instance, is a work of art and engineering, as I have been told years ago when I worked in a small art gallery/store. So is a watch, or a chair.                What about art on paper? It can be distracting, entertaining, intellectual, educational, sad, happy, and so on. The subject depends on its purpose and the individual who created it.  

    There are four created books I'm going to show, all of which I have made except one; the first is an Altered book I used during my college years.

 I have discovered that graphic novels, or visual novels as a few artists call them, such as Audrey Niffenegger (you can visit her website), Lynd Ward and Edward Gorey can be made in different ways. The Rebellion Against the Standard Mind is one example. I started this project but never finished it, too many pages and I was ready to do something else. I used an old textbook on Illustration MS from my days as a college student. This became a visual diary of oil pastels and collage to express my thoughts.

Rebellion against the Standard Mind, 2009

Collage, oil pastels, ink

8 7/8in x 6 7/8inches

      

 Rebellion Against the Standard

 Mind, 2009

 Robed Figures making spaghetti

 in a magic pot. 

  (Watch a short video here)

Rebellion Against the Standard

 Mind, 2009

 Maze of Emotions

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Art in a Book contains photographs from the altered book above as well       as some paintings I have done. This was my first self-published book I     made, and it became an experimental project to see what I could do         with it. The drawings with the maze of emotions and Spaghetti are in       this book.

My Art in a Book

Published by Blurb Inc, 2013

Personal project, 20 pages

6 7/16in x 6 11/16inches

 

 

Untitled Christmas Story

Created 1999, Handmade Book

Construction and decorative

paper on cardboard

8 pages

8 3/4in x 6inches

The Untitled Christmas Story took a couple of days to make.

    

    A girl lives alone in the forest, and everything is covered in snow and low temperatures, it's cold. Christmas is a few days away and nothing is ready. The girl doesn't have a present and can't decide what gift to make. 

    Someone or something is hidden in the trees, watching her. A friendly presence who leaves her a gift of a bell in a small wooden box in front of her door. Does she accept this gift or try to discover who's hiding in the woods? Could it be Santa's Reindeer or his elves?

    This is a children's book and I was a teenager at the time. I knew about strangers and going off on your own. My younger self wanted a simple and happy story, this was fiction. In reality, I would stay home drinking tea and not worry about work, or taxes and other adult stuff, or someone sneaking around my door at night. 

    Untitled Christmas Story

    "Humph!"

       I turned but the voice had vanished, and I heard the small door slam shut. I stayed crouched in the snow astonished, a couple minutes later I was on my way home thinking about what I saw.

 

 

     Small Sketchbook

     Created in the 2000s

     Construction paper on 

       cardboard with tattoo stickers 

       and blue ribbon

     28 pages, size 3 1/4in x 2 6/16in.

 

 This is the second book I made while I was a student, it sits on my bookshelf, and its pages are untouched. The cover is coming apart a little, but it still holds together well. On the back is a picture of a sun and moon face to face with their outlines completing a full circle.

Into the Red Cave, A Horrific Comedy: An Interview with the Author

 

 

    

   Into the Red Cave, Author, Victoria Townsend Talks About           Her New Book

    All images displayed in this article belongs to the author and reprinted here     with the permission of the copyright owner.

           

  I will continue to support   International Justice Mission and the Polaris Project against Human Trafficking.

    

Buy book here in the links provided,

Print Book: Ingramspark 

Print/ E-Book: Amazon

I’m sitting here with the author and artist of the graphic novel, Into the Red Cave, A Horrific Comedy, Victoria Townsend. She’s a quiet woman casually dressed and holding a mug of hot tea. We are outside on her back porch this afternoon in the brisk air with the warm sun on our left side.

Her book centers on the main character, Guy, who finds himself on a volcanic island in the middle of the ocean. He meets three women who force him to do a dangerous task, while struggling to stay alive in a harsh environment of freezing temperatures and hot volcanic gases. He must rely on these women to send him home or be abandoned for the rest of his life. This story has intrigued me for its storytelling, and as a short story in one book.

  

Thank you for meeting with me, are you ready?

Yes, fire away.

Why this story? How did you come up with this?

It started as separate ideas on paper during the past ten years. I didn’t start putting it together until last year. It’s a story for people to relate to as they deal with their own difficulties and find a positive experience from the story.

A horror story?

It is a horror story, but I added some light comedy as well, so it’s not so dark. There are many emotions the characters experience such as shock, anger, rage, hope, love, and despair. I don’t want to give too much away.

Tell me about the formatting of the book, I noticed several elements happening there.

Yes, there are three elements to the story, the illustrations that tell the story, the text, and the word puzzles hidden within the text. I wanted the reader to linger on the page instead of flipping through the book, so I set a challenge for them. There’s no answer sheet for the puzzles so the challenge is harder. I didn’t want to make it easy.

Is there a way to showcase their answers?

I thought about that and decided to leave it to the readers. There is a solution to the puzzle if you’re stuck. One word with its letters are scattered over one paragraph, The next word is done the same way in the next paragraph. Another way to find the answers is to use scrabble tiles (if you have Scrabble). That way you can move the letters around or write the letters on pieces of paper and use this method to find the answers.

I can see you left out the puzzle in the e-book version.

I had trouble with the e-book conversion app, so I left it out and made sure to tell readers before they brought the book.

Last question, why self-publishing?

I’ve been burned too many times in the past due to inexperience. My work has been rejected without a clear explanation, taken as a donation without payment, or someone else puts their name on my manuscript. With self-publishing, I know my work still belongs to me and I have complete control of how the manuscript is created and published. There will still be mistakes, yes, but I keep ownership of my work.

     I’ve studied how a book is put together from the copyright page of another book. For example, ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number and LCCN is Library of Congress Catalog Number. This person created this typeface (text) or that person created the Calibri font. You also do your own editing and make sure it looks professional. I have someone to assist me with that. Selling your work, every step of the way is up to the author. It has been a huge learning experience for me. To make a book is time consuming and costly but well worth it. This is a project I’m proud of.

Thank you for the time and the tea, it was good meeting you.            

 

Below I have provided links for her book, Into the Red Cave, A Horrific Comedy

Print Book                       Print/ E-Book                    Ingramspark                 Amazon