Abstract
During art therapy self-experience workshops in Vietnam and Germany, the authors noticed that there were differences in how the groups expressed their feelings in paintings. This led the authors to a comparative, explorative study. In this study workshop participants from Germany and Vietnam (29 in each group) were instructed to draw pictures related to basic emotions like sadness, disgust, anger, or happiness. Then, the paintings were evaluated by using rating scales with which formal and content-oriented criteria can be assessed. The interrater reliability was good. The results showed some statistically significant differences. The Vietnamese participants used smaller formats and more colors with stronger color application. They preferred simpler forms than the Germans. The German participants painted in a more abstract manner, while the Vietnamese participants used more concrete images and tended to scenic expressions (representation of stories). There are some reasons which might explain these differences: It is known that cultural influences play an important role in the arts as well as in the way creative arts are taught in a particular society. The expression of emotions is culture-specific as well. The Vietnamese participants were, however, interested in the possibilities art therapy offers and felt that there are good chances for this therapy to develop in their country.
Highlights
Based on a clinical-scientific partnership with Vietnam and initiated by the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy of the University Hospital of Freiburg, workshops lasting several days were held in Hanoi in December 2013 and December 2014 (Fritzsche et al, 2008, 2014)
In December 2014, as part of the 2nd Vietnamese - German Scientific Conference on Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, we presented art therapy during a workshop for the first time as a Expression of Basic Emotions creative, therapeutic method and found that there was a great deal of interest from the participating Vietnamese psychologists and physicians
During the first experiential self-experience exercises, we had the impression that the Vietnamese participants expressed feelings in pictures quite differently than the German art therapy students with which we had experience up to that point
Summary
Based on a clinical-scientific partnership with Vietnam and initiated by the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy of the University Hospital of Freiburg, workshops lasting several days were held in Hanoi in December 2013 and December 2014 (Fritzsche et al, 2008, 2014). In December 2014, as part of the 2nd Vietnamese - German Scientific Conference on Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, we presented art therapy during a workshop for the first time as a Expression of Basic Emotions creative, therapeutic method and found that there was a great deal of interest from the participating Vietnamese psychologists and physicians. During the first experiential self-experience exercises, we had the impression that the Vietnamese participants expressed feelings in pictures quite differently than the German art therapy students with which we had experience up to that point Their paintings were more precise and recounted more episodes from the respective life stories. These initial clinical impressions led to the research project described here
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