Repressed Art, Expressed in Paint: Trauma and Art Therapy in The Silent Patient

Abstract

Trauma Studies, an interdisciplinary field arising in the 1990s, explores the psychological, cultural and literary dimensions of trauma, specifically its resistance to language and meaning. Drawing on Freudian psychoanalysis and Cathy Caruth’s trauma Theory, this paper navigates the depiction of trauma in The Silent Patient (2019) by Alex Michaelides. Caruth argues that trauma is not fully experienced at the moment of its situations but reappears through fractured remembrances, flashbacks, and involuntary expressions. Applying this theory, the paper analyses the protagonist, Alicia Berenson, whose muteness following her husband’s murder reflects the indescribability of trauma. Alicia’s silence, expressions, and fractured recollections align with Caruth’s proposition, demonstrating trauma’s dislocation of consciousness and narrative experiences. Also, the paper explores the remedial eventuality of art therapy in trauma recovery, representing Cathy Malchiodi’s work on expressive trauma remedy. Alicia’s self-portrait, Alcestis, renders as a non-verbal evidence of her trauma, mirroring the mythological figure’s immolation and betrayal. The novel’s ambiguous ending reinforces the paradox of trauma where survivors strive to articulate their suffering but remain locked in silence. Through a literary analysis of The Silent Patient, this paper emphasizes how trauma fractures identity and language, andhighlights the necessity of indispensable forms of expression for healing.