CREATIVE SYNTHESIS

"You are not responsible for what you are, but you are responsible for what you make of what you are."
(Sartre)

Every life deserves a redemption
The use of phototherapy and creativity as narrative and self-transformation

I believe that phototherapy in the oncology setting offers the sick person the chance to look at themselves from another perspective, playing with photographic shots in order to redeem themselves from their own illness. Illness is part of life and, therefore, in my opinion “every life deserves a redemption,” since everyone, in the course of their existence, pays a price for something that didn't go exactly as they wished, but (as I was taught by Gestalt) “it doesn’t matter what happens to us, but what we do with what happens to us.”
Through photography and personal shots, a person can re-capture their femininity.
Here is O.'s personal experience, which sums up the experience of making a photo book during his illness in this way:

“The photo book was a way to show myself and others that you can be beautiful even bald and swollen from cortisone. Of course it's a different kind of beauty, because your body is different and others look at you differently too. And yet, with these photos, something wonderful happened: my bald head and my swollen body suddenly seemed sensual and a bit ironic to me. I hope and wish that this message helps the many sick people who, like me, are facing the difficult moments that cancer brings with it. It can be done — with great difficulty, but it can be done.”

Creative synthesis is one of the tools I use in session: here you'll find how I work as a psychotherapist in Florence.