Tattoos As Trauma Management

Did you know that tattoos can be used as a tool for healing? Tattoos are becoming increasingly popular in mainstream culture. As they do, it’s interesting to consider why so many people choose to get tattooed. The answer is different for everyone, but for many people it’s that there are therapeutic benefits of getting tattoos.

Despite the fact that getting a tattoo is creating a wound on your skin, many people find that getting a tattoo can allow them to heal from current and past trauma. Laura Crompton of Tel Aviv University led a study to better understand how getting a tattoo can help people cope with trauma. Her study found one common reason to be that tattoos can be a visual representation of otherwise invisible scars or experiences. Having a visible tattoo is a way for people to express and sometimes prove what they have gone through.

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A tattoo can be a memorial for a significant event or for a loved one. Getting a tattoo can allow people to feel they have control over their own body. For instance, choosing what is going on your body, where, and in what context, are all components of getting a tattoo that give a person agency.

Physiology

Another reason tattoos are considered therapeutic is because of the physical response they evoke from your body before, during, and after getting a tattoo. With this in mind, Psychotherapist, Mark Bailey, gave his take on why people get tattooed, and particularly why they do it over and over again. He broke down what is going on in the body. First, is the anticipation phase. You experience a release of endorphins as you consider what’s to come, feeling excited and perhaps a bit nervous. Next is actually getting the tattoo. Your body experiences a rush of adrenaline. This can help mask the pain and also give you the feeling of a natural high. Some people have also noted that they feel being able to sit through the prolonged pain of a tattoo, they are better equipped to cope with other types of physical and emotional stress.

An Escape

Finally, tattooist, Tyler Martina, wrote that many people get tattoos is because they find it to be a relaxing experience. The process of getting a tattoo is such that you are able to spend those hours thinking of nothing else. It is an intimate and conscious experience. You make a meaningful decision about your body, and fully experience that decision coming to be. The pain from a tattoo is steady. It can act as a tool to stay present in that moment and forget about the pain or stress experienced in everyday life.

References:

5 Ways Tattoos Can Help People Heal | Psychology Today

Tattoos and Healing: Considerations from an Art Therapy Lens (lesley.edu)

Tattoo Therapy – MrInkwells