(Tranlsation of an article taken from the December 1998 edition of the official magazine of St. Elizabeth's Hospital Linz, Austria)

MANDALAS

An Exhibition "From Patients to Patients" in the Palm Hall

Under the title, "Relaxation and Mental Hygiene", an exhibition of Mandalas appeared on display in the Palm Hall of St. Elizabeth's Hospital Linz from September 8-30, 1998, free to the public. The highlight of the exhibit was that most of the 200 pictures were painted by patients of the Sterile Unit of the Bone Marrow Transplant Section as part of their psycho-therapeutic treatment, under the guidance of Dr. Christa Seybold.

Since 1997, this specialist in psychosomatic medicine has been using Mandala motifs to motivate her patients to paint. Because many patients reacted so favorably to her guidance, many beautiful pictures have since been created. This colorful collection finally gave Dr. Seybold the idea to present them together as an exhibit, and she entitled it "From Patients to Patients". This exhbit was presented in cooperation with the medical staff of the Bone Marrow Transplant Section, who themselves started painting their own Mandalas once they realized how much their patients were enjoying this creative activity.

At the Grand Opening on September 8, 1998, Dr. Christa Seybold gave a speech on the mythological and deep psychological aspects of Mandala symbols and on the following page, there appears an excerpt of her talk.

There is an accompanying video film on the subject of Mandalas, in general, with detailed explanations about the psychological background of several of the patients' paintings, in particular. This film (written and narrated by Dr. Christa Seybold) will be shown every Thursday morning at 9:00 and 10:00 A.M. over the hospital TV system. Several pictures taken from the exhibit can also be found on the Internet at our Home Page.

Painting as Therapy

The motivation to creative action, for example, through painting and drawing, plays an important part in psycho-therapeutic work. While many patients refuse traditional painting therapy because they fear that they will be unable to paint pictures in a free-form manner, they gladly respond to using crayons in coloring pre-designed motifs. Dr. Seybold (pictured below), a specialist in psychosomatic medicine, has had good experience with patients who paint Mandala motifs, because these symbols have psycho-therapeutic relevance.

Every patient, who wishes to paint, can choose from nearly 650 different motif variations and pick those which are especially pleasing to him or to her. Particularly for those patients from the Bone Marrow Transplant Section, who have to spend weeks alone in a Sterile Unit, this activity (of painting Mandala motifs) brings about a welcome change. The Mandala copies are sterilized and then hermetically transferred into the Sterile Room. Some patients become involved with one motif for days at a time. The finished pictures are then fastened to the bulletin board of the Sterile Room. It gives the patients a feeling of success whenever visitors or staff admire their works. Not to be overlooked in all this, of course, is a certain therapeutic value. According to Dr. Seybold, "besides the occupational therapy, these pictures mirror both the physical and spiritual condition (of the patients) during their stay in the Sterile Room, and due to their Mandala symbolism, (these works) can be relevant to the psycho-therapeutic process."

(picture caption) "Dr. Christa Seybold at the Grand Opening"