An Art Therapy Intervention with African-American Male Adolescents Assessed with a Depressive Diagnosis

Abstract

This study examined the impact of art therapy intervention over the course of eight individual sessions with one adolescent African-American male at an Approved Private School. This research was conducted after having found little research and resources pertaining to art therapy interventions with African-American male adolescents assessed with a depressive diagnosis such as Major Depression, Bipolar I Disorder or Dysthymic Disorder.The design of this study was conducted through a single subject design in ABA format. The participant was given a pre and post-test measure in sessions one and eight, using the Children’s Depression Inventory scale to assess his level of depressive symptomatology. Sessions two through seven included individualized art therapy and goal-oriented art therapy directives.The subject who participated in this study was a 16-year-old African-American male diagnosed with Bipolar I disorder. The results of the pre and post-test Children’s Depression Inventory were recorded, the individual art therapy session notes were presented and the artwork created in each session was analyzed.Even though he scored low and not within statistically significant ranges in both the pre and post-test, the findings suggest that there was an increase in depressive symptomatology suggesting that art therapy aided this participant in self-exploration and less regression in his responses.Despite his increase in depressive symptomatology, the results of this study suggest that individual art therapy had some positive effects on his understanding of his persona, self-esteem, coping skills and depressive affect. With increased number of sessions, this and other areas may increase his understanding of these aspects.%%%%M.A., Creative Arts in Therapy – Drexel University, 2009