Outpatient art therapy with a suicidal adolescent female

An Investigation into Art Therapy Aided Health and Well-Being Research: A 75-Year Bibliometric Analysis

Considering the physical, and psychological impacts and challenges brought about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), art therapy (AT) provides opportunities to promote human health and well-being. There are few systematic analysis studies in the fields of AT, which can provide content and direction for the potential value and impact of AT. Therefore, this paper aims to critically analyze the published work in the field of AT from the perspective of promoting health and well-being, and provides insights into current research status, hotspots, limitations, and future development trends of AT. This paper adopts a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative analysis including bibliometric analysis and keyword co-occurrence analysis. The results indicate that: (1) the current studies on AT are mostly related to research and therapeutic methods, types of AT, research populations and diseases, and evaluation of therapeutic effect of AT. The research method of AT mainly adopts qualitative research, among which creative arts therapy and group AT are common types of AT, and its main research populations are children, veterans, and adolescents. AT-aided diseases are trauma, depression, psychosis, dementia, and cancer. In addition, the therapeutic methods are mainly related to psychotherapy, drama, music, and dance/movement. Further, computer systems are an important evaluation tool in the research of AT; (2) the future development trend of AT-aided health and well-being based on research hotspots, could be focused on children, schizophrenia, well-being, mental health, palliative care, veterans, and the elderly within the context of addressing COVID-19 challenges; and (3) future AT-aided health and well-being could pay more attention to innovate and integrate the therapeutic methods of behavior, movement, and technology, such as virtual reality and remote supervision.

Exploring responses to art in adolescence: a behavioral and eye-tracking study

Adolescence is a peculiar age mainly characterized by physical and psychological changes that may affect the perception of one's own and others' body. This perceptual peculiarity may influence the way in which bottom-up and top-down processes interact and, consequently, the perception and evaluation of art. This study is aimed at investigating, by means of the eye-tracking technique, the visual explorative behavior of adolescents while looking at paintings. Sixteen color paintings, categorized as dynamic and static, were presented to twenty adolescents; half of the images represented natural environments and half human individuals; all stimuli were displayed under aesthetic and movement judgment tasks. Participants' ratings revealed that, generally, nature images are explicitly evaluated as more appealing than human images. Eye movement data, on the other hand, showed that the human body exerts a strong power in orienting and attracting visual attention and that, in adolescence, it plays a fundamental role during aesthetic experience. In particular, adolescents seem to approach human-content images by giving priority to elements calling forth movement and action, supporting the embodiment theory of aesthetic perception.

Art psychotherapy in a consumer diagnosed with borderline personality disorder: a case study

This case study reviews 11 sessions of art psychotherapy with a consumer diagnosed with having borderline personality disorder. A consumer who reported difficulty in communicating her lived trauma verbally and engaged in self-harming behaviour was offered individual art therapy sessions following a consultation between an art therapy student and clinical nurse consultant in an attempt to understand her experiences and to collaboratively engage her. Notes were taken after each session by the art therapy student, reflecting conversations with this consumer while they were engaged in art making, which were subsequently explored within formal clinical supervision sessions with a mental health nurse consultant. An art portfolio is reproduced. It illustrates the expressive power of image creation. The key features of the images were that of lived trauma, the externalization of thoughts and feelings, and intense emotional expression. The results of this chronological art portfolio case study indicated therapeutic benefits from the intervention for this consumer. Further investigations of this type of intervention are warranted within the mental health setting.

The Effect of Healing Gardens and Art Therapy on Older Adults With Mild to Moderate Depression

This study evaluated the effect of garden walks alone, garden walks with guided imagery, and art therapy on mild to moderate depression in older adults. Focus group interviews at the end of the 6-week intervention suggest that all 3 interventions were helpful to participants with mild to moderate depression.