Effect of art psychotherapy using marbling art on depression, anxiety, and hopelessness in female survivors of domestic violence with PTSD

Abstract

This study examined the effect of art psychotherapy using marbling art on depression, anxiety, and hopelessness in female survivors of domestic violence with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study was carried out with eight female survivors of domestic violence using an art psychotherapy method with 14 structured marbling art sessions. Quantitative data were collected using the Beck Hopelessness, Depression, and Anxiety scales and qualitative data were gathered using the formal examination of marbling artwork, participants’ verbalizations, and the descriptive method. Descriptive data were presented using frequency, percentages, and arithmetic mean and the non-parametric Wilcoxon Test was used for group comparisons. A statistically significant improvement was found in the participants’ pretest-posttest depression, anxiety, and hopelessness scores. Descriptive analysis revealed that participants reflected their experiences of domestic violence in their marbling works resulting in common themes such as anger, irritation, anxiety, fear of the future, coping, and hope. Thus, art psychotherapy using marbling art had a positive effect in reducing the level of depression, anxiety, and hopelessness in women survivors of domestic violence with PTSD. This therapy helped them to uncover their buried traumatic experiences through the creation of metaphoric and imaginative marbling artworks, which were later turned into expressions/narratives.