Art Therapy Research Articles

Refugee Minors’ Perspectives Explored with the Bridge Drawing and Children’s Hope Scale

AbstractMoving from one’s home country to a foreign country due to unforeseen circumstances such as war and unrest is a distressing life event. For minors, such an experience can impact their perception of the past and present alongside future goals and desires. With this background, a pilot study was done to assess the life transition reflected in the Bridge Drawing Test (BDT) of refugee minors who have moved from either Ukraine or Eritrea and are currently living in Israel, with a control group. A mixed-methods design involving BDT and the Children’s Hope Scale (CHS) was administered to a sample (N = 35, 20 girls and 15 boys) consisting of 16 refugee minors and 19 controls aged 4 to 14 years (M = 8.3 years, SD = 2.8). The BDT was assessed using indicators from the original bridge drawing directive and the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale (FEATS) by two Art Therapists (Cohen’s Kappa ranged from 0.6 to 1). Results showed significant group differences in indicators: Prominence of colour, details of objects and environment, obviousness of Solidarity of bridge attachments and high versus low hope from the BDT (Medium effect size & p < .05). Associations between Pathway and Agency with BDT indicator and FEATS were seen. Refugee status also moderated the relationship between the CHS Total score and the subscale of Pathway and BDT indicator, namely Directionality (p = .01 & p = .02). Bridge drawings of refugee minors have differences that can aid in understanding their hope and goals, offering benefits as a diagnostic and therapeutic intervention tool. Future studies with larger samples, and diverse cultural groups are warranted to explore the same.

Communication and information about complementary medicine in a Dutch oncology setting: Interviewing patients and providers on their experiences and needs

BackgroundComplementary medicine such as yoga, massage and art therapy has become increasingly popular among patients with cancer. However, the topic remains under-discussed during oncology consultations: patients seem hesitant to disclose complementary medicine use, and healthcare providers lack resources to discuss complementary medicine. This study aims to gain an understanding of how to improve communication and information provision in oncological settings about complementary medicine by assessing the experiences and needs of patients and healthcare providers. Materials and methodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 patients with cancer and 13 oncology healthcare providers recruited from two general hospitals and one breast cancer center in the Netherlands. Nine (former) patients with breast cancer collaborated with the research team as ‘co-researchers’. Reflexive thematic analysis was used. ResultsThe main themes identified were barriers to patient-provider communication about complementary medicine (e.g. lack of time and knowledge among healthcare providers, negative attitudes toward complementary medicine), facilitators of communication (e.g. openness of healthcare providers, complementary medicine as a routine topic) and information provision needs (e.g. easy access to information, the hospital being involved in providing information). ConclusionPatients with cancer and healthcare providers report issues with the current approach to discussing complementary medicine and are of the opinion that complementary medicine should be a routine topic in oncology consultations. Future studies should focus on effective methods for standardizing complementary medicine discussions into oncology care and making reliable information available for patients and healthcare providers.

Art therapy as a bridge to expand burn care beyond surgery: Providers’ perspectives in an inpatient burn center

Burn injuries necessitate resource-intensive multidisciplinary care and psychosocial support. Incorporating art therapy in burn centers could enhance patient and provider care. However, research on the impact and reception of art therapy within the context of burn care is scarce. A doctoral dissertation study introduced art therapy intervention for burn patients. As part of this research, we conducted a qualitative study to explore health-care providers’ experiences, with a focus on their perspectives on burn-care and art therapy to inform research and clinical practice. Using thematic analysis in qualitative research, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 health-care providers from varied disciplines and identified the following three themes: a) Burn care is a “multifaceted problem” as well as an impact-driven, rewarding experience for providers; b) The visuality of art therapy coupled with physical activity is perceived as a necessary “emotional outlet” for burn patients; and c) Future art therapy research/practice goals are linked to complex patient presentations, specific multidisciplinary team challenges, and the critical care environment. Positive perceptions reinforced that art therapy could contribute to inpatient care as part of multidisciplinary burn teams. More research is needed to address the identified psychosocial, functional, and interprofessional needs of patients and providers.

The Impact of Expressive Arts Therapy on Emotional Regulation and Self Compassion among Adolescents

The Impact of Expressive Arts Therapy on Emotional Regulation and Self Compassion among Adolescents

Art therapy and neuroscience: evidence, limits, and myths.

The evidence base for the effectiveness of art therapy continues to grow, even as a mechanistic understanding of how art therapy works remains limited. One promising avenue for increasing our understanding of how and why art therapy works is through the lens of neuroscience. A neuroscience-based approach to art therapy provides opportunities for improving understanding of the neural processes that underlie the complex interaction between perception, cognition, emotion and behavior that play out in the art therapy process. Understanding how therapeutic change occurs can result in improved treatment and better outcomes for clients. However, it can be tricky to connect art therapy and psychological theory directly to neural responses. The purposes of this perspective are to provide an overview of the current evidence and limits of neurobiological concepts of neuroplasticity, mirror systems, and interoception as applied to art therapy practice, and to provide updated information about outdated concepts that are still actively used in clinical practice. Critical analysis and understanding of the current scientific knowledge base can then be used to guide art therapy practice and support the development of hypothesis-based research to determine the primary mechanisms that drive the observed effects of art therapy interventions.

Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Art Therapy (MBAT) Utilizing Watercolor Painting on Emotion Regulation, Mindfulness, and Obsessive Symptoms

Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Art Therapy (MBAT) Utilizing Watercolor Painting on Emotion Regulation, Mindfulness, and Obsessive Symptoms

Comparative analysis of art therapy in education: China vs. foreign countries using CiteSpace

Comparative research on art therapy in education is limited, both in China and internationally. This study examines the potential of art therapy to transform art education, focusing on improving students' physical and mental health and aesthetic abilities, both in China and other countries. This study provides a comprehensive comparative analysis of art therapy in education within a visual context. Using bibliometric analysis of publications from the CNKI and WOS databases over the past 20 years, and the CiteSpace visualization tool, research hotspots and frontiers in art therapy within education were identified. Clustering research topics were explored, and the influence of art therapy on current art education was discussed. The study also predicts the future development trend of art therapy in both Chinese and international art education. Bibliometric analysis of CNKI and WOS databases, coupled with the CiteSpace visualization tool, facilitated the identification of key nodes in the keyword network, highlighting research hotspots and frontiers. The development of art therapy has shown an upward trend over the past two decades, particularly in the last ten years. Comparative analysis revealed ongoing progress of art therapy in both China and other countries, with untapped potential in China. Future trends indicate a complex upward trajectory, emphasizing the integration of localized art therapy methods and educational approaches. This comparative research paper explores art therapy in education, focusing on its potential to improve physical and mental health, as well as aesthetic abilities, in students from China and other countries. Using bibliometric analysis and the CiteSpace visualization tool, research hotspots and frontiers in art therapy within education were identified. The findings reveal a growing trend in art therapy over the past two decades, particularly in China. The study highlights untapped potential and predicts a complex upward trajectory, emphasizing the integration of localized art therapy methods and educational approaches. These insights contribute to the advancement of art education practices in China and internationally, underscoring the need for further exploration and integration of art therapy methods.

Family‐centered creative arts therapies for children with autism: A configurative systematic review

AbstractObjectiveThis configurative systematic review analyzed family‐centered creative arts therapies for children with autism to understand why and how they are done.BackgroundCreative arts therapies and family‐centered practice are both beneficial for children with autism. Research combining both approaches—that is, family‐centered creative arts therapies—is emerging, and reported findings are promising. A deeper understanding of the theoretical influences and mechanisms of these therapies may generate new ways of thinking and working with families with children with autism.MethodsFollowing registration with PROSPERO and in accordance with PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses) guidelines, a literature search was performed, resulting in 17 studies. Thematic analysis considered the studies in terms of theoretical influences, creative arts therapy components, and family‐centered components.ResultsThe development‐in‐context perspective was a key theoretical influence. In addition to music and singing, body movement/physical activity was a prominent component of creative arts therapies. Verbal support as well as modeling behaviors and strategies to parents were salient family‐centered components.ConclusionThis systematic review reveals common principles, practices, and gaps in the existing literature and their relevance for families with children with autism.ImplicationsThese findings bear implications for families, therapists, Certified Family Life Educators, and other professionals working with families with children with autism.

Computational elucidation of nonverbal behavior and body language in music therapy

Abstract Music therapy has shown efficacy in serious and chronic conditions, mental disorders, and disabilities. However, there is still much to explore regarding the mechanisms through which music interventions exert their effects. A typical session involves interactions between the therapist, the client, and the musical work itself, and to help address the challenges of capturing and comprehending its dynamics, we extend our general computational paradigm (CP) for analyzing the expressive and social behavioral processes in arts therapies. The extension includes bodily and nonverbal aspects of the behavior, offering additional insights into the client's emotional states and engagement. We have used this version of the CP, which employs AI pose estimation technology, image processing, and audio analysis, to capture therapy-related psychometrics and their intra- and inter-session analysis. The CP is applied in a real-world proof-of-concept study, and the results enable us to pinpoint meaningful events and emergent properties not captured by the human eye, complementing the therapist's interpretations. The resulting data may also be useful in other scientific and clinical areas.

Art Therapy May Help Those with Neurologic Disorders

Art Therapy May Help Those with Neurologic Disorders

A Case Study of Gestalt Art Therapy for Children with Peer Relationship Conflict and Difficulty in Self-Expression

A Case Study of Gestalt Art Therapy for Children with Peer Relationship Conflict and Difficulty in Self-Expression

A Case Study on the Art Therapy of Subject Relationships for Children with Permissive Space and a Lack of Good Objects

A Case Study on the Art Therapy of Subject Relationships for Children with Permissive Space and a Lack of Good Objects

Role of Art Therapy in Mental Health Rehabilitation: Evidence from Clinical Interventions.

Role of Art Therapy in Mental Health Rehabilitation: Evidence from Clinical Interventions.

An Exploration of the Application Path of Painting Art Therapy in Mental Health Education in Colleges and Universities

Painting art therapy integrates painting art theory and psychological analysis, it constantly improves and develops, the application prospects is considerable. Based on the connotation and characteristics of painting art therapy, this paper pays attention to the current situation of mental health education in colleges and universities, and combines the advantages of painting art therapy to explore the integration of painting art therapy into mental health education in colleges and universities: painting is used to project the inner world in psychological survey, painting is used to release signals for help in individual counseling, painting is used to create an expression atmosphere in classroom teaching, and painting is used to awaken emotional resonance in group counseling and theme activities.

Homebody: Art Therapy and the Art of Possessions

This concept paper is proposing the inclusion of the home studio as an art making location for art therapy trainees who assemble personal belongings, within the context of their domestic lives. A collection of belongings can become an installation which brings together associations to identities in juxtaposition. The material culture of art therapy trainees, the objects which they live by, is a new contribution to art therapy pedagogy, as it designates the art of personal collections as a life archive (or accumulation) that is close at hand and already available. This collection of household artefacts teaches students how to honour the object collections of their clients, who are experts with lived experience of how to arrange legacies of gathering, consumption, inheritance, and gifted items. What follows is a proposal describing how home arrangements can signify personal associations to meaning and to an ethos of respecting what becomes us in terms of what we already own. The home studio is a key concept in this exploration of material culture as it relates to art therapy. This is a recognition of how a curation of possessions (where we place our belongings) is noteworthy as an act of agency and reflective practice within art therapy training and within the lives of those who participate in art therapy services. Recognising the significance of one’s lived-with objects, as navigation points of identity, values the culture of their curator who identifies the meaning of what they own as material assets.

Properties of fractal speckle-like structures

Regarding the use in art therapy and ophthalmology, the properties of fractal speckle-like images are considered. For their construction, both the traditional approach based on the use of two-dimensional fractal functions and a new technique based on the representations of dynamic chaos were used. The important role of the scaling characteristics of the Fourier transforms of fractal light structures is revealed.

Monte Carlo Simulation of Radioactive Elements Production in Tissues by Spallation in Cancer Therapy

Purpose: High-energy heavy ions generated by accelerators utilized in industrial and medical uses. Ar, C, and He heavy ions have been used in the treatment of cancer. In this research, it was tried to calculate the radioactive elements production in healthy tissues around tumors by heavy ions spallation process in the direct usage of high-energy ions for the treatment of cancerous tumors. Materials and Methods: The radioactive elements production in body tissues irradiated with heavy ions was calculated by Monte Carlo N Particle X-version (MCNPX) code based on the Monte Carlo method. The F8 tally card with FT8 command was utilized to derive the activation and spallation data in the range of Z1 to Z2 atomic numbers. Results: A wide range of radioactive elements was created in healthful tissues in Ne, C, Ar, and He heavy ions therapy. Results show that 10Be,14C, 26Al, 36Cl, 39Ar, 40K, 39Ar, 32Si, 22Na, and 36Cl radioactive materials were produced for high-energy heavy ions spallation in healthy soft tissue. Conclusion: The results of this research show that due to using directly high-energy ions to treat internal tumors, healthy soft tissue is activated. Also, by irradiated Ne, C, Ar, and He ions, the radioactive elements are produced with high gains and long half-lives. Therefore, in the therapy of cancerous tumors with high-energy ions, due to the production of radioactive agents, healthy tissues are at high risk.

Meeting the multidimensional self: fostering selfhood at the interface of Creative Arts Therapies and neuroscience.

Intriguing explorations at the intersection of the fields of neuroscience and psychology are driven by the quest to understand the neural underpinnings of "the self" and their psychotherapeutic implications. These translational efforts pertain to the unique Creative Arts Therapies (CATs) and the attributes and value of the self-related processes they offer. The self is considered as a multi-layered complex construct, comprising bodily and mental constituents, subjective-objective perspectives, spatial and temporal dimensions. Neuroscience research, mostly functional brain imaging, has proposed cogent models of the constitution, development and experience of the self, elucidating how the multiple dimensions of the self are supported by integrated hierarchical brain processes. The psychotherapeutic use of the art-forms, generating aesthetic experiences and creative processes, touch upon and connect the various layers of self-experience, nurturing the sense of self. The present conceptual analysis will describe and interweave the neural mechanisms and neural network configuration suggested to lie at the core of the ongoing self-experience, its deviations in psychopathology, and implications regarding the psychotherapeutic use of the arts. The well-established, parsimonious and neurobiologically plausible predictive processing account of brain-function will be discussed with regard to selfhood and consciousness. The epistemic affordance of the experiential CATs will further be portrayed, enabling and facilitating the creation of updated self-models of the body in the world. The neuropsychological impact of the relational therapeutic encounter will be delineated, acknowledging the intersubjective brain synchronization through communicative verbal and non-verbal means and aesthetic experiences. The recognition and assimilation of neuroscientific, phenomenological and clinical perspectives concerning the nested dimensionality of the self, ground the relational therapeutic process and the neuroplastic modulations that CATs have to offer on the premise of fostering, shaping and integrating selfhood.

The Effect of Art Therapy by Painting Technique on Social Function Level in Schizophrenia Patients at Menur Mental Hospital, Surabaya City, East Java, Indonesia

The Effect of Art Therapy by Painting Technique on Social Function Level in Schizophrenia Patients at Menur Mental Hospital, Surabaya City, East Java, Indonesia

Art and Cooking Therapies on Mental Health and Well-Being: A Narrative Review

Mental health is relevant to every individual. Poor mental health and well-being contribute significantly to personal suffering and a substantial burden on society. Art and cooking therapies in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are flexible approaches that emphasize engagement and growth to promote mental health and well-being, are easy to perform, accessible when needed, and can be self-administered. This review aims to explore art and cooking therapies focusing on intervention protocols, target populations, underlying mechanisms, limitations, and areas for future research. The literature search was conducted in PubMed, Google Scholar, and Semantic Scholar databases using predefined search terms. A total of 26 randomized controlled trials, 19 in art therapy, and seven in cooking therapy were included. Art and cooking therapies are promising interventions to improve mental health and well-being. They promote mindfulness and provide opportunities for self-expression and social support which can be explored in future studies and therapeutic settings.