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Crafting Composure Part II: A Study of the Clinic,
Mental Instability and Embroidery
Amy Chandler2016
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“The real problem about psychoanalysis is that so many people behave as if it were true.”
- David Cooper, The Language of Madness, 1978 (23).
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Anxiety, depression, and other forms of mental instability
are widely prevalent in today’s contemporary society. Although
mental unwellness is not as heavily stigmatized as it was a
century ago, individuals, including myself, struggle daily with
coping with mental instability, the perception of it in society,
and how to care for such unpleasant feelings. This paper, which
is a second installment of a project I began in September of
2015 1 , is an inquisition into the connections between mental
wellness and craft processes. I investigate the systematic
treatment of mentally unwell individuals in a clinical setting,
a brief history of mental health in European and North American
regions, and the availability of healthy management techniques
for all persons, regardless of financial status, gender, race,
or class. This paper is born out of personal experience, and I
seek to add to the ever-growing discourse surrounding the
accessibility of free, useful, sustainable, and flexible methods
of coping with mental instability.
To investigate the links between the creative process and
mental health, I have utilized both primary and secondary
sources. The heart of this project is drawn from practice-based
research. Throughout the course of this research, I have
embroidered steadily, and recorded my mental wellness in a blog
$ Amy Chandler. “Crafting Composure” 2015. " www.craftingcomposure.tumblr.com
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online. 2 I have also had multiple e-mail interviews, and have
engaged with the archival fonds on the occupational therapist
and weaver Mary E. Black housed at the Nova Scotia Archives. For
secondary sources, I have drawn from many books and articles,
especially David Cooper’s Language of Madness 3 , Rozsika Parker’s
The Subversive Stitch 4 , and Michel Foucault’s Madness and
Civilization . 5 I have also looked at the ideologies of
psychologists Jan Baptista van Helmont, and Sigmund Freud. I am
using social art history and a critique of psychoanalytic theory
to contend with this body of research, which I am viewing
through a feminist lens.
Shortly after I graduated from high school in my late
teens, I was diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD),
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and General Depression
Disorder. Although I acknowledged chronological catalysts that
lead to the institutional treatment of these categorized
disorders, I knew I had grappled with these hindrances through
the entire memory of my life. Now they were named. I engaged
with a traditional psychoanalytic therapist upon the
encouragement of my mother. Our sessions felt uncomfortable,
" www.craftingcomposure.tumblr.com # David Cooper. The Language of Madness , 1978. % Rozsika Parker. The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of theFeminine , 1984. & Michel Foucault. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Ageof Reason , 1965.
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cold, clinical, and lacking connection. Even shifting to
different therapists or clinics did not seem to ease the
discomfort of my interactions.
One experience in particular was astoundingly impersonal.
On a first session with a specific psychologist, she gave me
quantitative surveys to fill out before my next appointment.
These surveys asked questions such as “how often are you
entirely unable to sleep?” or “how often do you find yourself
thinking suicidal thoughts?”. You were supposed to measure your
response to these huge, weighing questions on a scale of 1 to 5,
5 being all the time, 1 being never. It was a long time before I
was able to bring my filled in surveys back to my therapist as
she canceled and rescheduled my next appointment 3 or 4 times,
despite my answers to these questions ranging in the 4s and 5s.
When I was finally able to bring my responses in for analysis,
she did a quick tally, then curtly informed me that I was
categorized as having general depression and social anxiety
disorder. She then informed me that she was a very busy person,
and I “wasn’t that bad,” so unless I was feeling immediately
suicidal, I didn’t need to come back. I knew instantly that this
form of treatment for my mental instabilities was not working,
was not worth the vast hourly rate, and that I needed to
investigate other avenues.
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I attempted yoga, meditation, exercise, cleaning sprees,
and medication. I found none of these solutions to be
sustainable for my individual personality, so none of them
assisted permanently in managing the abyss that is suffering
from mental instability.
2 years ago I began teaching myself how to embroider. Aside
from the many pleasures I believe to be inherent to embroidery
as a craft, I noticed a calmness in performing the repetitive
task of stitching. Embroidering soon became a delightful pastime
for me, and I found myself losing hours (and stresses) to the
craft. Being a self-taught artist, I found a control in honing
my skills, and having total freedom over the pictorial content
within my works. That meditative healing, which derived from an
especially accessible and portable craft, became the jumping off
point for this project, and the further investigations within it
into the creative/productive process and reducing mental
instability.
I would like to take this opportunity to state my personal
biases on the treatment of mental instability and my stance in
relation to psychoanalytic therapy within this paper. It is my
belief that mental instabilities, although absurdly unpleasant,
potentially hazardous to one’s physical health, and dismally
confusing, do not need to be completely eradicated. It is my
personal belief that the complete entity of mental illness is
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not negative. For instance, my anxiety sometimes acts as a sixth
sense to me, and I find myself very aware of others’ telling
mannerisms and thoughts. My depression allows me to be critical
of my surroundings, my relationships, and myself. My OCD is very
helpful in my artistic practice, and has been instrumental in
developing an aesthetic that I find delightful and visually
pleasing. I do not mean to romanticize mental illness in any
way. It is my intention to impart that not all experiences
within mental instability are definitively negative. This method
of managing my mental instabilities is in no way intended to be
universal. It is more so an experience that I, and others as the
interviews show, have found helpful, and could potentially be
used or adapted to assist a wider population. There is long
history of interactions between mentally unwell individuals,
their experiences, and their perception by society that has lead
to me being able to come to this position in relation to mental
wellness.
History
Although mental instability, or “madness” as it may have
been referred to historically, is seemingly prevalent in
contemporary society, it is nothing new. As history progresses
through the Common Era, treatments of individuals suffering from
mental instability, and the classification of their plights have
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varied. It is helpful to grasp a vastly condensed history of
mental (un)wellness and its perception in society in order to
properly contextualize my practice-based research and the
interview responses.
In the beginning of the 15 th century, individuals suffering
from mental instability were viewed and treated as the awkward
group within society that just didn’t mesh well. These persons
were carted or sailed off to remote places. 6 Mentally unwell
individuals were often banned from entering churches, 7 and there
developed a noticeable tension between mentally “healthy” and
“unhealthy” members of society. Mental instability remained
mysterious, its source and necessary treatment unclear.
In Canada in the 17 th and 18 th centuries, it was thought by
European settlers that bizarre behaviours could be attributed to
demonic possession, or an imbalance of the 4 bodily humors. 8
Exorcisms were occasionally performed on individuals suffering
from madness, or prayers were said in their name. 9 To restore
what was thought to be an imbalance in the 4 bodily humors
(blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) early Canadian
' Michel Foucault. Madness and Civilization , 1965: 8. ( Ibid, 9-10. ) James E. Moran. “History of Madness and Mental Illness: A Short History ofCare and Treatment in Canada”, 2009. * Ibid.
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its Director having final veto power over all treatments
performed on housed individuals. The committed individuals
within the Hôpital Général were mostly all male.
If you were a female experiencing mental instability at
this time and place, you were sent to the Salpêtrière, which
opened in 1670. 14 The majority of these women were categorized as
suffering from “hysteria”. Hysteria derives from the Greek word
for “uterus” and the intense emotionality it denoted was once
thought to be due to a wandering womb. 15 Men, due to their
anatomy were of course exempt from this diagnosis. A woman was
diagnosed as hysterical if she exhibited shallow and/or extreme
emotions, uncontrollable shaking fits, paralysis, and/or
overdramatic or attention-seeking behaviours. The French
psychologist Jean-Martin Charcot was one of the main attendants
to this disease. Charcot ran a popular weekly lecture series in
the Salpêtrière, using live female patients as exhibits or
specimens. 16 These women were analyzed, photographed, and
agitated to the point of “hysterical fits” which were in fact
seizures or panic attacks. 17 The term “hysteria” was a vast
diagnosis, encompassing far too many symptoms for the treatment
of it to be of any help to anyone.
$% Georges Didi-Huberman. Invention of Hysteria , 2003: 3. $& Rebecca Solnit. Men Explain Things To Me , 2014: 105. $' Didi-Huberman. Invention of Hysteria , 23.$( Ibid, 3.
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These houses of confinement from the 17 th century were the
models for the ones that became so prevalent in North American
beginning in the 19 th century. Asylums were built beginning on
the Eastern coast of Canada, with one of the first built in
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. This hospital, named the Mount Hope
Asylum for the Insane, opened its doors in 1895. Within these
asylums, massive issues of power abuse occurred, with instances
of wrongful confinement, and institutional violence toward
patients. Even treatment that was deemed medically acceptable
was highly questionable. For instance, the use of water as a
treatment on mentally unwell patients was problematic. Immersion
into water was seen as purifying and cleansing, ridding the mind
and the body of ailments. 18 Jan Baptista van Helmont, a Flemish
psychologist practicing in the early 17 th century, thought that
by plunging patients into water, he had cured them of insanity.
He is quoted as saying, “The only care that must be taken, is to
plunge the sufferers into the water suddenly and unawares, and
to keep them there for a long time. One need have no fear for
their lives.” 19 In this quote, van Helmont demonstrates his
perception of his patients as objectified and disposable, and
therefore his hierarchical position above them.
Sigmund Freud also demonstrates problems within treatment
of mentally unwell individuals. Freud was an Austrian
$) Foucault. Madness and Civilization , 168. $* Foucault quoting van Helmont. Madness and Civilization , 168.
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neurologist practicing in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries.
He is known as the “Father of Psychoanalysis”. Freud categorized
anxiety as a “free-floating” fear, as opposed to a phobia-
specific fear. 20 Free-floating fear, according to Freud, was
entirely caused by sexual frustration, or “ coitus interruptus ”. 21
He is also quoted as saying, “for the average human it is true
that anxiety and sexual constraint belong together.” 22 Freud did
individuals suffering from mental instability within his care a
vast disservice by classifying all causes of anxiety as sexual
ones, and did not look deeper for a different conclusion than
his expected one.
Although presently doctors are no longer practicing hostile
water immersion as a treatment for anxiety and/or depression,
psychoanalytic techniques born of that era are still used today.
Traditional medical treatments for mental instability proved
insufficient for me. I would like to take this opportunity to
consider an excerpt from David Cooper’s Language of Madness:
“There are no examples to follow, certainly not mine. What is
necessary for one person is by no means necessary for anyone
else. We each have our own madnesses, our own paths.” 23
"+ Sigmund Freud. “XXV. Fear and Anxiety.” A General Introduction toPsychoanalysis, 1920: paragraph 20. "$ Ibid, paragraph 18. "" Ibid, paragraph 20. "# David Cooper. The Language of Madness , 1978: 16.
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“Many chemical medications are prescribed for individuals
suffering from mental instabilities. Most commonly prescribed
for anxiety are benzodiazepines or tranquilizers like
alprazolam, clonazepam, or lorazepam, but beta-blockers or anti-
depressants are also used. For some people, these medications
are useful, effective, and helpful. For others, they are not the
right path. Unfortunately, many benzodiazepines are physically
addictive and lead to dependency after just a few weeks or
months. Medications can also have the opposite of the intended
effect, in some cases increasing anxiety or causing suicidal
thoughts.
“Taking or not taking medication is a personal choice. For
myself, it was not the right one. Unfortunately, many doctors
and physicians prescribe medication to patients without
considering that person’s specific history for addiction, or the
exact nature of that individual’s mental illness. This decision
is often executed quickly and without careful consideration
because of the over-stuffed nature of our medical
institutions.” 24
Now that an extremely condensed history of the treatment
and perception of mentally unwell persons within western society
has been established, it and its lingering effects in
contemporaneity can be critiqued.
"% Chandler. Crafting Composure , 11-12. **I had written this part so accuratelyin the first installment of this paper that I could not bear to reword it.
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Problems with Traditional Psychoanalytical Therapy
Psychoanalysis is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a method
of explaining and treating mental and emotional problems by
having the patient talk about dreams, feelings, memories, etc.” 25
This method of treatment doesn’t sound so bad, and I do not find
fault in the treatment of mental instability by that definition.
However, when one considers the professionalization of the field
of psychology, this is where it becomes problematic. Acquiring
psychoanalytical treatment in contemporary western society
usually involves an exchange of currency. Excepting getting
referred to a random psychologist by one’s family or clinic
doctor, individuals suffering from mental instability are
usually on the hook for a hefty bill for their treatment. In
2015, the average salary for psychologists practicing in Canada
was $75,850 per year. 26 In Nova Scotia in 2015, the average
salary for an individual was $35,360. 27 The average hourly rate
an individual must pay to receive psychoanalytical therapy in
Canada in 2011 was $83 per hour. 28 To put that in perspective,
that hourly rate was $73 more than the minimum wage in Nova
"& Merriam-Webster.com. . "' Payscale.com. . "( Statistics Canada. . ") Chron.ca. .
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Scotia at the time, which was $9.65-$10.00. 29 Medication for
mental instability can also be expensive. If it were not for my
insurance in 2014, I would have been charged $90 for a
prescription meant to last 12 days.
I also find issue in the language and categorization that
occurs within the clinical treatment of mental instability.
Complicated medical terms and names for mental disorders
alienate the individual from their own experiences. Language
surrounding the treatment and perception of mental instability
is highly important. It can be the difference between an
individual continuing with care that does not work for them, and
finding a solution suitable to their unique mental needs.
Language surrounding mental instability defines how individuals
experiencing it and those around them perceive it. It is
language that diminishes the vastly different connections within
a mind into specific, scientific categories. It is language that
reinforces a hierarchical power binary between doctor and
patient, between healthy and unhealthy, and between sane and
insane. It is language that alienates the individual from their
own experiences through complicated medical terms and
categorization. But it is also language that validates an
experience like anxiety, which tells the individual over and
over again of its unreality.
"* Novascotia.ca. .
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Accessible Solutions for Mental Instability
For myself, traditional psychoanalytic therapy and medication
were not successful in managing my mental instabilities. I find
support from relationships and friendships in my life,
connecting with individuals in person and over the internet who
are experiencing similar things
to me, visualization and
grounding techniques, and most of
all craft processes to be
extremely helpful in managing and
encouraging my mental health.
Crafting, especially embroidery,
has been paramount in assisting
in my mental wellness. The
feelings that come with being
creative and productive, no matter how small or fleeting, are
instrumental in my maintaining a healthy balance with my mental
space.
Figure 1: Embroidery by Amy Chandler,2016. Photograph courtesy of the
author.
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Throughout the course of this
project, I have embroidered
fervently. I have also recorded my
thoughts and feelings on a blog
online 30 as I craft, as a resource to
draw upon to support my hypothesis of
the creative process aiding in mental
wellness. I created four pieces of
embroidery art (see Fig. 1, Fig. 2,
Fig. 3, and Fig. 4) that representing my technique of
visualization to manage anxiety. In some instances, and for
myself, anxiety is the hyperactivity of negative thoughts. I use
visualization to try to focus my
thoughts on a specific mental
image or motion. I picture my
heart in my chest, then I encase
it in a wooden box (see Fig. 1).
Then I place that box in an
outlandishly pink heart case,
encrusted and bejeweled with
crystals (see Fig. 2). That
heart-shaped case gets enclosed
within a stainless steel
#+ www.craftingcomposure.tumblr.com
Figure 2: Embroidery by AmyChandler, 2016. Photographcourtesy of the author.
Figure 3: Embroidery by Amy Chandler,2016. Photograph courtesy of the author.
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spherical case that is terrifyingly sharp with spikes and studs
(see Fig. 3). That weapon of a case is then set into a deep
purple sphere, and encircled with gold bands connecting into an
all-seeing, protective eye (see Fig. 4). This process continues,
continually enclosing, with focus on minute visual details of
each case and box until I begin to feel the pending anxiety
attack recede. This aspect of my coping techniques paired well
with the process of embroidery I explored in my practice-based
research. Embroidery allows close focus on a manual process. It
slows the mind because it slows the hands as well.
Through my research I also was able to conclude that for me,
embroidery also assisted in the
process of grounding. “Grounding”
is a process where an individual
focuses on their physical
environment to situate themselves
in reality and hopefully away
from an anxiety attack. Grounding
is often practiced by thinking of
“find five things you can see,
four things you can touch, three
things you can hear, etc” or
something along those lines. I find embroidery, and other craft
practices helpful in grounding techniques, as it requires focus
Figure 4: Embroidery by Amy Chandler,2016. Photograph courtesy of the author.
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on a specific physical activity that engages the mind in
creativity and repetitive action.
Another way embroidery has been helpful in reducing mental
instability is in its social aspects. Stitching is usually quite
portable and small. I often carry mine in a Ziploc bag wherever
I go, and can bring it out whenever I feel uncomfortable. There
are also many stitching bees, where one can go to embroider or
craft and chat with other folks. Earlier this semester, I had
the good fortune of being asked to co-host the Mental Health
Collective here at NSCAD University to talk about this project
and to discuss solutions for mental instability through craft
processes. We had a small, very casual gathering, where we all
crafted and had an open discussion about techniques we used in
our own lives to reduce mental instability. Many folks at the
meeting found the repetitive nature of crafting helpful in
reducing anxiety or mental instability. It was noted that visual
progress was very important in this process. For instance,
sanding of metals in jewelry-making techniques is a repetitive
task, but takes a vastly long time to produce any visual
progress. Embroidery on the other hand has the potential to
produce that visual satisfaction rather quickly in comparison.
I am not the first to connect craft practices with mental
wellness. Mary E. Black, a weaver and occupational therapist,
was heavily invested in craft’s ability to assist in many
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aspects of personal wellness. Black was born in 1895 in
Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. 31 She was educated in Wolfville,
Nova Scotia and graduated from the Acadia Ladies’ Seminary in
1913. 32 In 1919, Black traveled to Montreal, where she took a
course on occupational therapy, run by the federal government.
This course trained aides on techniques used to help soldiers
returning from war to reintegrate into society. The techniques
taught at this course were “basketry, book-binding, block-
printing, bead-work, designing, fancy-work, raffia, stenciling,
toy-making, woodcarving and weaving”. 33 It was taught by the
federal government in 1919 that craft processes aide the mental
stability of soldiers returning from the horrors of war. Black
went on to work as an occupational therapist for many years, and
advocated for craft processes in connection with mental wellness
for the rest of her life. Black provided advice, resources, and
demonstrations on craftwork, with emphasis on helping people
help themselves. Black taught individuals how to make simple and
useful objects for their own lives, or as a product to sell to
make a living. She advocated for quality craftsmanship and good
use of colours to assist in marketability. Black’s contribution
to the use of crafts to aide in mental stability is vastly
#$ Catherine Brackley. “Mary E. Black.” Canadian Association of OccupationalTherapists, Web.#" Ibid. ## Ward Occupational Aide Graduation Certificate, 1919. NS Archives, referenceno: MG 1 Vol. 2876 12
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important and I would not be approaching this project in the
same way if it were not for her research and community practice
beginning nearly a century ago.
Many of the folks I interviewed over e-mail agreed with my
findings that craft/creative processes aided in managing their
mental instabilities. Nicole said:
I find drawing mandalas to be an extremely calming and meditativeprocess. If I feel anxious/depressed, I feel relieved after
completing or even starting a new drawing. The feelings that come with being productive and creative are essential to my mentalhealth. 34
Another interviewee, Leanne, had similar things to say:
The process of weaving is very calming to me. Every part of it,the planning, setting up your warp, threading the loom, whichtakes almost as much time as weaving the actual cloth. It takes alot of patience but for me it is meditative because I don’t have
to think about what I am doing, my body just does it… The creativetranscendent-like zone you get into when making something is verypeaceful. When you are able to enter that realm its very freeingand puts other life worries on hold. If you have things on your
mind it is good to get it out through some form of medium. 35
Most of the interviews included responses with the word
“meditative” in them. I also find craft processes, especially
embroidery to be meditative. One may argue that having a mental
silence while embroidering can only foster more anxious
thoughts, and of course for some individuals that may occur. In
my personal experience, and seemingly in others according to the
#% Nicole MacIntyre. E-mail interview, 1 Mar. 2016. #& Leanne Hansen. E-mail interview, 4 Mar. 2016.
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interview responses, the mental silence that accompanies close
focus on a physical process is meditative in the base sense of
the word. Meditation is the eschewing of thoughts, the clearing
of the mind of both negative and positive thoughts, allowing an
individual to just be in the moment, without pressure. This is
how embroidery serves me in coping with my mental instabilities.
Concluding Thoughts
Through this project, I hope to have shown that embroidery
and similar repetitive creative processes can have a positive
effect on some individuals suffering from mental instability.
This technique is in no way meant to be a universal treatment
for all forms of mental unwellness.
The history of the treatment and perception of mental
instability within society has shown that a multitude of
approaches and techniques have been used. The methods that have
proven useful have stayed, and the ones that were useless,
sexist, and/or abusive have been actively eradicated or have
died out. Throughout the course of history many different
methods of coping with mental illness have been suggested and
utilized and I hope my research will add to that discourse.
There is a large accepted myth that in contemporary
society, professional psychoanalytical treatment and/or
medication are one of the only universal “cures” or treatments
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for mental instabilities. The practice-based research and
primary interviews have definitively shown that the feelings an
individual experiences during and after the creative act
actively counter mental instability. Some interviewees and
myself often set out to create something for the express purpose
of calming our mental spaces.
Finding accessible, free, and flexible techniques for
coping with mental instability is of paramount importance.
Techniques like grounding, visualization, and socialization all
work hand in hand with craft processes, as my own practice-based
research and interviews have shown. The treatment of mentally
unwell individuals by large systematic institutions is not
useful for all, although they’d like you to think their “cure”
is universal. It is my opinion that mental instability does not
need a cure, only healthy management. I hope through this
research (and the continuance of it) I have started to develop a
possible way of managing mental instability. Embroidery and
other craft processes have been immeasurably helpful in my
mental wellbeing, and I will be continuing to use it as an
effective weapon against depression and anxiety.
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"&
Hansen, Leanne. E-mail interview. 4 Mar. 2016.
Kim, Woochang. E-mail interview. 25 Feb. 2016.
Koplos, Janet, and Bruce Metcalf. Makers: A History of AmericanStudio Craft . Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina, 2010. Print.
MacIntyre, Nicole. E-mail interview. 1 Mar. 2016.
Marchessault, Janine, and Kim Sawchuk. Wild Science: ReadingFeminism, Medicine, and the Media . London: Routledge, 2000.Print.
McFadden, David Revere. Pricked: Extreme Embroidery . New York:Museum of Arts & Design, 2007. Print.
McNiff, Shaun. Art Heals: How Creativity Cures the Soul . Boston:Shambhala, 2004. Print.
Moran, James E. “History of Madness and Mental Illness: A ShortHistory of Care and Treatment in Canada.” History of Madness .N.p., 2009. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. .
Mosher, Sarah. Personal interview. 16 Nov. 2015.
Parker, Rozsika. The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and theMaking of the Feminine . London: Women’s, 1984. Print.
Petersen, Grete, and Elsie Svennâs. Handbook of Stitches: 200Embroidery Stitches, Old and New, with Descriptions, Diagramsand Samples . New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1970. Print.
Plokker, J.H. Art from the Mentally Disturbed: The ShatteredVision of Schizophrenics . Boston: Little, Brown, 1965. Print.
Prain, Leanne and Jeff Christenson.Hoopla: The Art of
Unexpected Embroidery . Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp, 2011. Print.
Ritter, Hal. “Anxiety.” Journal of Religion and Health 29.1(1990): 49-53. JSTOR . Web. 13 Sept. 2015.
Ryan, Catherine. E-mail interview. 24 Feb. 2016.
Thomson, Harry. E-mail interview. 8 Nov. 2015.