نقش هنر درمانی در مبارزه با تروریسم: تجربه عربستان

Art therapy, as a means of self-expression and healing, is used in a variety of clinical and rehabilitation settings. Here, it is tested with a population judged to be involved in terrorism-related activities. This paper presents an extensive review of the art therapy program at Mohammed Bin Nayef Center for Counseling and Care, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The objective of this study is to showcase the use of art therapy in the care and rehabilitation of ex-jihadists, with suggestions for best practices. This paper is the first description in the literature of the efforts of the Saudi government to explore the use of art therapy in counterterrorism. Art therapy outcomes on a population incarcerated for terrorist activities are presented alongside treatment and reconstruction of extreme ideology through art production. We conclude that a successful art therapy program is required within the overall approach to counterterrorism. Further, a strong understanding of the cultural backgrounds of the subjects, along with recommendations for relying upon specific artistic components of the therapeutic process are clearly indicated. According to government sources, together with the other programs offered to ex-jihadists, the art therapy program discussed here, which has been in operation since 2007, has achieved an 86.17% success rate, with (as of January 2015) a 13.83% recidivism rate. This is a strong indication that art therapy is an efficacious approach in counterterrorism.

Since 2003, Saudi Arabia has been heavily engaged in counterterrorism. The Saudi Interior Ministry has been tasked with the responsibility of “cleaning house” with respect to terrorist activities and influences, and is largely succeeding (Ansary, 2008, Boucek, 2007 and Boucek, 2011). The Saudi government fights terrorism using two basic approaches—the hard approach and the soft approach. Under the hard approach, militants are brought in by force, and tried and sentenced according to Islamic judicial practice. The soft approach is used with select individuals found guilty of participating in terrorist activities or of going to Iraq or other conflict zones and who returned, completed their sentences, and were deemed promising candidates to be released back into society. The aim of the soft approach is to help such individuals reintegrate into society. Through the soft approach, the program is “undermining extremist views and disrupting the activities of those who promote violent extremism” ( Ansary, 2008, p. 118). Through dialogue, intellectual interaction, self-expression, psychosocial reconstruction, social awareness, and heavy religious re-education, the soft approach is able to correct subjects’ corrupted ideologies ( Boucek, 2008). Art therapy plays an important role in the soft approach, as it inherently focuses on self-expression (Durham, 2008). A variety of materials and techniques are used to facilitate the use of art in the rehabilitation of detainees, most of whom immediately welcome the idea of non-verbal communication through art; this involves communication with the self, the past, the present, and the future. Sometimes, this communication is with others, including other inmates, professors, and the authorities. Through art, the subject individuals find refuge from past experiences and hardships. At other times, these students find in art a way of expressing anger and hardship through a safe medium that does not harm themselves or others; such expression is, on the contrary, found to be therapeutic. The art therapy program is part of the Mohammed Bin Nayef Center for Counseling and Care (MBNCCC) in Riyadh. The program began six months after MBNCCC was founded in 2007 by the author and a former student of the author in art education, on invitation from His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, Minister of Interior of Saudi Arabia (who at the time was Undersecretary of the Interior Ministry for Homeland Security), who found in his own work that art can offer balance in the lives of detainees, can help them express their feelings and thoughts, and can help address important unconscious issues that might not otherwise find redress. The Prince's idea for art therapy as an additional program at MBNCCC has already done far more than simply create balance; it has helped detainees come to terms with their problems and facilitated their safe reintegration into society. As of January 2015, 2,918 students have graduated from MBNCCC after successfully completing rehabilitation through the many programs offered there, including art therapy. The art therapy program is an important component of MBNCCC's activities and it is well received by the beneficiaries. Art therapy is designed to work alongside all of MBNCCC's other programs to arrive at an outcome of safe social reintegration of the beneficiaries into Saudi society. This study investigates the use of art therapy in rehabilitation of ex-terrorists, a new study population in this field. The author, who is the senior art therapist at the program, reports his experiences and experimentation in laying out the essential components of such a program, in the expectation that this knowledge will prove valuable to colleagues in both the fields of art therapy and counterterrorism.

We conclude that art therapy has found efficacy with a new population, that is, art therapy as a useful approach to rehabilitation in counterterrorism, which is uncharted territory for art therapists. It was challenging to start a program without specific experience and practice with such a population. The art therapists who initiated the art therapy program at MBNCCC had to rely upon a wide range of art therapy literature and expertise to arrive at the current success rate of 86.17%, alongside other rehabilitation programs. The outstanding rehabilitation teamwork demonstrated at MBNCCC makes this possible. Adaptation of experience from all fields of knowledge in all MBNCCC programs contributes to directing the program's goals toward social reintegration of ex-jihadists. Adjustment of art therapy activities and non-reliance on traditional psychotherapy and counseling make it very clear to us at the program, and hopefully for all future art therapists, that the field of art therapy can create therapeutic methods and results by focusing on the artistic component itself. Further, in the same direction, art therapists must be aware, and respectful, of the local cultures from which their clients emerge. The International Art Therapy Alliance is extremely helpful to art therapists in remote or new art therapy territories, where collective efforts may make positive differences, as it did with this program of art therapy in counterterrorism. Further, learning through practice seems to be of more value to art therapists who are academically prepared in art therapy but lack information in new applications of art therapy techniques. We found that sitting in on religious counseling with Islamic scholars throughout their sessions made it easier for us to conduct our art therapy sessions with greater success. We have learned throughout our art therapy experience with this population that some institutions in other countries are interested in copying our program with other populations, such as destructive gangs and other groups. We are not enthusiastic about these applications, because an important part of the program might not be available to them; with our population, we have close monitoring by intelligence agencies, which aid in detecting unwanted activities and reporting them back to MBNCCC. In such cases, MBNCCC intervenes with its aftercare program to resolve the problem. In addition, our program is quite costly; some institutions may not be able bear the financial burden. Finally, the whole art therapy experience with ex-jihadists has proven to be a learning experience for all, clients and therapists alike, on this effective method of fighting terrorism.