Girija Kaimal, interim chair and assistant dean for a division of the human development and health administration at the Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions, visited Georgetown University on April 23 to discuss her new book, “The Expressive Instinct: How Imagination and Creative Works Help Us Survive and Thrive,” which explores the intersections of mental health and art therapy.

During the event, hosted by Georgetown’s South Asian Society, Kaimal shared her personal and academic experiences that prompted her to write about the influence of creative outlets on the well-being of the human brain. 

“What I felt from my own life experience and from my research is that the arts are deeply connected to our development as human beings,” Kaimal said at the event. “One of the things that really defines us is our creativity and imagination. No other animal or no other species has that, this is uniquely our attribute.” 

Kaimal has researched the brain’s response to trauma for 15 years, with support from federal agencies like the Department of Defense, Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has also been featured by NPR, CNN, The New York Times and other international media outlets.

Kaimal explained during the talk that research has shown the neurobiology behind the brain’s response to emotional distress and trauma.

“For your brain, going through a difficult emotional experience is not very different from a physical biological infection,” Kaimal said. “So when you are depressed, the level of immune function in your body is not very different from when you have diabetes.”

Kaimal said that the human brain is predictive in nature, and envisioning a negative future constantly can lead to anxiety and depression. Stimulating the imagination, however, can pull the brain away from these negative thoughts.

“We can use our imagination to create, and that sort of offsets our instinctive urges to only see and imagine the worst,” Kamial said.

Kaimal said she also wants to change the narrative around involvement in the arts, especially after learning that many individuals say that they don’t feel creative or talented enough to participate in artistic endeavors.

“One of my own goals is to dispel the idea that creativity is the domain of a select, gifted few,” Kaimal said. “A lot of creative products have really come from challenge, so I think often of this idea that if you feel different, if you feel challenged or if you’re facing adversities, in time those various things become what defines you and what you create in your life.”

In Kaimal’s own research, she examines the outcomes of art therapy in military veterans with traumatic brain injuries and PTSD. She also explores arts-based approaches to relieve chronic stress in patients and caregivers within pediatric hematology or oncology hospital units. 

“People who go through extreme trauma have a very hard time putting that trauma into words, which is why traditional therapies usually don’t work with them, and that’s when art therapy as a profession began,” Kamial said.

During the Q&A portion of the event, Zayan Baig (SOH ’25) asked Kaimal about how to promote artistic programs and their benefits, especially at college campuses like Georgetown, where students tend to prioritize academic programs and pre-professional activities over creative organizations.

“A lot of your clubs will offer a sense of joy and community and celebration that no amount of exams and As will give you. And I think that’s part of taking care of yourself as well,” Kaimal responded.

Baig, a member of the South Asian dance group GU Jawani, said that he connected with Kaimal’s sentiments, as his involvement in dance has served as an outlet to relieve stress in Georgetown’s high-pressure academic environment. 

“Without an artistic outlet, it can be really difficult to navigate your college experience, especially at a place like Georgetown, which is why I think it is really important to make artistic opportunities and ways to destress available at college,” Baig told The Hoya.

Kaimal said that the most important part of opening up the discussion around mental health is to expand access to art therapy resources and continue learning more about its benefits.

“Your generation is a lot more vocal, a lot more connected than mine was, and that is where you can really use your voices and find your own creative practices as a way of preventative health and well-being.”