Cartoons as a way of coping with refugee trauma

This article aims at presenting the impact of artistic creativity on the mental health of refugees. Several levels of influence have been analysed: neurobiological, narrative, contextual, symbolic, activating, socio-political and ritual. The research question is whether and how the creation of artistic works can be a form of coping with refugee trauma. The data was obtained through the analysis of cartoons and transcribed interviews which have been conducted in 2018 in Norway with an Iranian refugee artist, hosted there within the structure of the ICORN network. The data seems to confirm that art can be an effective form of dealing with refugee trauma, but does not offer a complete solution to all the problems connected with traumatic experience