Research

The development of LOM® began in 1983 in the course "Dreaming and Painting", in which Bettina Egger and Jörg Merz discovered that certain images bring great relief, while others do not. Two types of images proved to be helpful: on the one hand, internally stored images, and on the other hand, painting metaphors.
Inwardly stored images are painted especially in the case of trauma. Often this already brings relief. Some pictures also have to be put in order in a second step so that they do not burden any further.
Feelings or sensory impressions such as sounds or smells are painted as metaphors. For example, it is asked, "If this feeling were a fruit (geometric shape, vegetable, etc.), what would it be?" This picture is then painted.
The first approaches were further developed in small groups and individual therapies and offered for the first time in 1995 as LOM training for art therapists, psychotherapists and doctors.
From the beginning, it was evaluated * how high the stress was before and after painting, as well as ½ year after completion of the process. These surveys made it possible to constantly adapt and improve the method. From 1999 onwards, all results were systematically recorded in a database and expanded by trained LOM® therapists. To date, almost 1000 cases have been documented. The results were calculated by Prof. Alexander Grob from the University of Basel. The effectiveness of LOM could thus be impressively proven. In follow-up examinations ½ year later, the results were even better than directly after completion of the painting process.