When I tell people what my two majors are, I often am greeted with looks of confusion. “How do design and psychology work together?”, is a very frequent question I am asked. Personally, the two make complete sense together, as I am very passionate about not only art and design, but also in understanding humanity and how we think about, relate to, and experience our internal and external situations. I have found several correlations between my psychology classes and design classes; for example, I have learned about the Gestalt principle in two completely different lights. How we process information and emotions plays a crucial role in all branches of psychology, and within the study of visual communication as well.
There is one instance where I see art and psychology come together in a more literal and direct sense: in the spectrum of art therapy. Art therapy is a newly developed form of psychotherapy that uses art media as a mode of expression, communication, and inner release. It is applicable to those with mental illnesses such as depression, and also to the general population. I personally have found that art allows me time to relax and become one with my creative, mental and physical senses.
During the summer of 2016, I interned at the Foundation for Hospital Art. Here, one of my projects as an intern was to participate in a nationwide project called “PaintFest America.” With this event, I traveled to cancer facilities along the east coast and painted with cancer patients as art therapy exercise. By leading these patients in activities, I learned so much about myself and saw first hand how art could positively affect patients and families who were so deeply suffering. It was very meaningful to be able to bring some aspect of joy into the lives of these patients, utilizing my skills about people and art from my two majors.
These experiences inspired me to learn more about art therapy and its validity as a potential treatment source in addition to (or in place of) classical therapy or medication as a coping and healing mechanism. Thus, for my Methods in Psychological Research course, I was determined to write my mock psychological research paper on art therapy. Over the course of the semester, I conducted academic research on art therapy in a specific domain and wrote a hypothetical results and research paper, including Abstract, Introduction, Method (Participants, Procedure, Measures), Results, Discussion, References, and Appendix sections. Although this paper was primarily one to study ethical and correct publishing of psychological research in accordance with APA formatting, I learned much about the domain of art therapy itself and am excited to look for its continuation and heightened use in the future. Below is my paper (*note: formatting has been altered from APA style to fit this blog format):
Recently Developed Art Therapy Program Improves Emotional Regulation For Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Patients
Claire K. Kelsey
University of Notre Dame
Abstract
Art therapy is a newly researched form of psychotherapy that uses an alternative, non-verbal, and creative method to allow patients with diverse mental disorders and illnesses to externalize their thoughts. Additional findings indicate that art therapy is correlated to improvement in emotional regulation and expression. The current study extends such research by examining the long-term effects that mandatory, implemented art therapy programs have on emotional regulation and expression for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) patients. By utilizing an experimental design, participant emotional affect was assessed using three separate forms of evaluation methods and an additional correlation measure identifying similar trends between the three differing forms of analyses. Results suggest that art therapy significantly improves emotional affect, and can be used in future intervention efforts for PTSD patients.
Keywords: art therapy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, emotional regulation
Recently Developed Art Therapy Program Improves Emotional Regulation For Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Patients
For many psychological disorders, psychotherapy can be extremely beneficial as a treatment. In order to achieve maximum benefits and effects that psychotherapy programs offer, fostering interactive engagement is key to stimulating different areas of the brain (Lobban, 2016). Art therapy is a new form of therapy that has been supported in multiple cases to improve the quality of life of individuals (Montag, et al., 2014 ; Lobban 2014 ; Hattori 2011). The use of visual art like drawing, painting, sculpture, and more, can be used to help patients gain self-expression and reflection skills. Even for subjects without a history of mental illness, art therapy can improve self-exploration and expression. Recently, interest in the psychology world in the investigation and quantitative research of this new branch of psychotherapy has increased. More contemporary art therapy programs are considered to be “form(s) of therapy in which the making of visual images… in the presence of a qualified art therapist contributes towards the externalization of thoughts and feelings which may otherwise remain unexpressed” (Montag, et al., 2014). In some cases, art can facilitate the expression of feelings and memories when words are unable to. This expression of feelings and memories relates to emotional regulation, which people use subconsciously to manage and respond to emotional experiences within themselves and also within society. Possessing strong emotional regulation is extremely important to multiple aspects of human life and is paramount to mental health. Art therapy can help patients and the general population develop new skills of self-regulation through unique, creative expression.
More specifically, art therapy has been found to be an effective treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD comprises three categories of symptoms: Re-experiencing (nightmares, flashbacks), arousal (hyper-vigilance, concentration and sleep issues), and avoidance (emotional numbness, detachment) (Lobban, 2014). Patients with PTSD “re-experience emotions as physical states rather than declarative verbal memories” (Lobban, 2014) and thus have difficulty regulating their internal memories, which are manifested physically and mentally in these three categories of symptoms. Art expression can potentially relieve these symptoms by helping individuals remember, re-enact, and consolidate their traumatic experiences, as well as gain the ability to control internal memories and emotions that are related to traumatic events in one’s life (Collie, et. al., 2006). Thus, in this study, we are interested in emotion regulation as a variable of interest in evaluating the effect of art therapy as a treatment for symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
In addition to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, previous art therapy research has been conducted on patients with different types of psychological disorders or other health issues. These studies show that art therapy has beneficial effects on other sorts of patients. For example, Luzzatto and colleagues (2001) observed in an experiment how a controlled art therapy program affected isolated cancer patients with recent bone marrow transplants. Interestingly enough, it was found that cancer patients who found the greatest benefit from the program were ones who struggled with mental existential issues or with difficult past relationships. In addition, the relationship with the art therapist was very important in facilitating the patients’ ability to cope with their treatment (Luzzatto, et al., 2001). The combination of participation in the program, having a strong relationship with the art therapist, and enjoying the art exercises led to an increase of positive feelings, reduction of distress, and either clarification of spiritual issues or facilitation of communication with relatives. These are all components of strong emotional regulation and illustrate how art therapy can affect multiple factors within emotion.
Another study indicates that art therapy has a positive effect on visible symptoms of schizophrenic patients. In demonstrating the effect of art therapy on improving emotion regulation, Montag and associates conducted an experiment (2014), consisting of twelve sessions of the implemented program, for schizophrenic patients. Findings from their study indicate that after these sessions, there was a slight decrease in the negative and positive symptoms that are associated with schizophrenia. Furthermore, the patients also experienced an increase in psychosocial functioning and awareness of emotional states. They were able to better understand and reflect upon the emotional states of other people and themselves.
The effect of art therapy can be seen even further beyond populations of patients with depression, cancer, or schizophrenia. For example, Hattori and associates (2011) conducted a similar experiment observing how a weekly art therapy program over a period of twelve weeks affected a small group of subjects with Alzheimer’s disease. Conclusions of this experiment find that although cognitive functioning did not significantly improve within the experiment group, quality of life as measured by the Apathy Scale and Mini-Mental State Examination did improve. Hattori and associates found that the general well being of patients within the experiment group improved, as measured by the Apathy Scale. When a patient improves their emotion regulation, they also improve factors such as strong health, comfort, and happiness, all of which contribute to a higher quality of life.
Sometimes, however, there can be a social stigma present around art therapy programs. Not all types of patients would be inclined to try art or could be intimidated by a lack of perceived creative expression. However, another previous study conducted by Lobban (2016) explains that mandatory attendance had a beneficial effect on the outcomes of the art therapy program. Initially, all patients, veteran Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder patients, were hesitant about expressing their emotions through the program and opening up to the art therapist, but because they were forced to participate in the mandatory program, they eventually overcame their fears and gained emotion regulation skills as a result of the program. Therefore, in this study, we made attendance mandatory.
One such study that made attendance mandatory was by Lobban (2014) that followed military veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder through a film documentary as they took part in an art therapy program. The actual art therapy exercises were divided into two parts: image-making/expression and image-viewing/exploration. After the first part, a electroencephalogram (EEG) was taken and showed higher frequencies of brain activity in the temporal lobe, which is important for self-awareness and emotion expression. Thus, art therapy is potentially related to overcoming avoidance and emotional numbing. The second part of the program helped patients “externalize their concrete symbols of inner experience” (Lobban, 2014) by using both hemispheres of the brain for creativity and higher-order thinking. By introducing a new form of non-verbal learning in the form of artistic expression, the patients were able to express feelings and emotions related to traumatic events that were impossible for them to put into words. In this manner, patients were able to better control their emotions, because art therapy allows unconscious thoughts and memories surrounding previous emotional trauma to be released through a creative form. Art therapy could specifically help patients who might be more reluctant to talk about their problems verbally. Past experiences can be difficult to verbalize in front of a therapist, especially if patients believe there is a social stigma related to therapy. This specific type of therapy provides a unique, non-verbal outlet, where patients can release their memories. Learning how to express oneself in different manners is key to discovering one’s deeper feelings, perceptions, and imaginations.
Comparing previous research experiments have made it known that art therapy programs affect different mental disorders in different ways. For example, the effects of art therapy programs on PTSD patients differ from the benefits that programs have on schizophrenic patients. Because there are such extreme variances in beneficial effects, we chose to focus on PTSD patients for this particular study. Many people experience at least one major stressful or traumatic life event, and 8% of people experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms as a result. For Iraqi war veterans, these rates of experienced PTSD symptoms increase to 18%. (Kaiser, et al., 2005). PTSD affects a significant proportion of the population, so looking at new treatment techniques has the potential to benefit many. Furthermore, there could be a negative social stigma among war veterans, particularly, surrounding the idea of therapy. Art therapy is a different form of therapy and might not have the same negative connotation among this group of people. This specific form of creative therapy could potentially surmount this cultural obstacle, especially for specific populations such as war veterans or abuse victims. Specifically, art therapy is a form of expressive arts therapy where the patient doesn’t feel pressured in the relationship with their therapist; rather, the art aspect acts as a bridge that allows the patient to feel especially comfortable.
However, unfortunately, minimal in-depth research has been conducted on the effects of art therapy on PTSD patients, although this psychological disorder has become increasingly more common in the present day. Common treatments for PTSD include psychopharmacological, cognitive-behavioral, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, and much quantitative research has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of these forms. Although several psychological and neurological mechanisms within the art therapy have been identified as possible factors for treating PTSD, very minimal major clinical studies have been conducted to scientifically examine these factors. Our study attempted to scientifically show, through a series of longitudinal measurements, if art therapy programs actually do significantly affect PTSD patients, in terms of emotion regulation. In other words, we tested whether or not art therapy is a viable treatment option for patients who have experienced trauma.
Furthermore, most past completed studies have only observed the benefits of art therapy programs on a short-term scale, such as twelve weeks, and note in their conclusions that long-term studies of these programs are needed in the future. Our study performed a long-term study by observing the emotional regulation of patients over a yearlong time period. Long-term gain of emotional regulation is important because it is extremely important for long-term mental health and quality of life. Emotions play a large role in the entire lifetime, not just a few weeks like previous studies have tested.
We originally questioned the health field’s minimal understanding of art therapy, and wished to discover if it has potential positive benefits for patients with traumatic experiences in their past. This study could be applied to aid a wide range of patients who have experienced physical or emotional abuse, poor life circumstances, survivors of violent acts, veterans exposed to war, among others. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to test whether the presence of an implemented art therapy program significantly improves emotional regulation, over a year, for adult PTSD patients in outpatient therapy programs.
In order to ensure validity of measurements, a variety of emotional assessments was administered to participants. In Lobban’s study (20160, patients in the program had the potential to possess initial apprehensiveness about participation, and mandatory attendance had a beneficial effect on the outcomes of the art therapy program. Because of this data from past studies, we made participation in our art therapy program mandatory for the first four months of the study. For our purposes (studying the effect of art therapy specifically for PTSD patients), the art therapy exercises within the experimenter group incorporated a variety of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional medias. The majority of the exercises were based on a loose structure of re-creating and expressing traumatic events and memories, but also included “fun” assignments (both individually and within the small group) to keep the patients interested and light-hearted in their therapy exercises to achieve complete control over their traumatic memories and emotions. Of primary interest is whether the presence of this implemented art therapy program significantly increases the ability of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder patients to gain control of their emotional regulation and expression.
Method
Participants
The study included 200 patients (Mage = 35.4 years, SDage = 3 years) as they completed Trauma or PTSD therapy inpatient programs; 125 patients were in the experimental group and 75 were in the control group. Participants were selected through active recruitment. They were randomized by condition (control or involved in art therapy program), but controlled for gender and age. Patients in this study were all from the metro Atlanta, Georgia area. In both the experimenter and control groups, about 60% of the subjects were male and 40% were female. Both groups were majority European American (65%); some were African American (25%), Latino (9%), or multiethnic (1%). The majority was well-educated and the average income ranged from $250,000 to $500,000 (M = $376,070, SD = $186,719).
The inclusion criterion was that a licensed psychologist must have diagnosed the patients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder 6 months within completing the experiment, and the patients must have experienced some sort of traumatic event in the past 15 years, such as abuse or military conflicts.
Additionally, we hired 5 licensed art therapists in order to divide the larger group of 125 subjects in the experimenter group into smaller groups of 25. The participants were assigned to these 5 groups randomly.
Procedure
All study methods were approved by the university’s Human Subjects Institutional Review Board. The experimental group subjects signed an informed consent form acknowledging their participation in the program. For 1 year, subjects in the experimenter group attended mandatory art therapy sessions, twice a week for 1.5 hours each session. They were told to attend the sessions and follow the instructions of the art therapist. Each art therapist was given an identical itinerary to complete within the year period. The majority of the exercises were based on a loose structure of re-creating and expressing traumatic events and memories, with variances in type of material and exercise. The art therapy exercises within the experimenter group incorporated a variety of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional mediums. Pencils, watercolor paint, acrylic paint, and clay were all utilized within the experimenter group. There was a complete lack of art supplies and art therapy programs within the control group, although they received treatment as usual. All 200 participants were debriefed with the results of the experiment in order to suggest they continue in future art therapy programs for their personal benefit.
Measures
Emotional affects. Positive and negative affects were assessed with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule X (Watson & Clark, 1994). Participants in both groups were asked once a week to fill out a form of 60 emotion states. Each item (e.g., “enthusiastic”) was rated from 1 = “Very slightly or not at all” to 5 = “Extremely.” A total of four general basic negative emotions, three basic positive emotions, and four additional intricate affective states were measured. Scores were added up and compared. The PANAS X Positive Affect Scale has an alpha coefficient of 0.86 to 0.90, while the Negative Affect Scale has a coefficient of 0.84 to 0.87. It also possesses strong reported validity.
Daily experiences. We used the Experience Sampling Method (Larson & Csikszentmihalyi, 1983) to measure how participants felt and thought throughout their daily lives, by stopping participants at certain times of the day and asking them to make notes and answer questions about their experiences and interactions in real time. What differentiates the ESM test from other tests is that it assesses feelings and emotional affect in the present moment, rather than at a later time. Participants in both groups were given a pre-programmed stopwatch and were asked to provide systematic self-report at random occasions throughout each day, within a 4-hour block between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Participants were asked varying questions about both their objective states (e.g., what they were doing, who they were with) and their subjective states (e.g., perceptions of their current social situation, content of their thoughts). Open-ended responses are coded into mutually exclusive categories with inter-rater reliabilities ranging from 0.70 to 0.90.
Quality of life. The Quality of Life Scale (Flanagan, 1978) has been used to measure 5 conceptual domains of quality of life for patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. Participants in both groups were asked to fill out a form with 16 questions (e.g., helping and encouraging others, volunteering, giving advice) once a week. Each item was rated on a satisfaction scale, from 7 = “Delighted” to 1 = “Terrible.” Although quality of life is individualistic, this scale provided a standard measure of health, comfort, and happiness of the participants. The QOLS satisfaction scale is internally consistent, with coefficients 0.82 to 0.92. It also has high test-retest reliability, 0.78 to 0.84.
Results
Data Analysis Plan
Four separate t-test analyses were conducted to determine how the presence of an implemented art therapy program affects the emotional regulation of PTSD patients. Two independent samples t-test were conducted based on the PANAS X test results, another independent samples t-test was conducted based on the ESM test results, and a final independent samples t-test was conducted based on the QOLS test results. Means, standard deviations, and the number of participants were compiled and used to calculate respective t-statistics and p-values. There were 75 participants in the control group and 125 participants in the experimental group.
Finally, several Pearson’s correlations were calculated to observe if there exist significant correlations among the outcomes of these three separate tests.
Preliminary Analyses
Means and standard deviations for each of the three analyses (PANAS X, ESM, and QOLS) are displayed in Table 1. Given that these tests are defined as separate, yet related, in the literature, they were analyzed separately. However, correlations between all three tests are displayed in Table 2. The three outcome levels of the tests were significantly correlated.
Emotional Affects
Two separate independent samples t-test were conducted, based on the PANAS X schedule and added scores, to determine whether or not participants and non-participants within the art therapy program differed in positive and negative affects. One two-tailed t-test was conducted to compare positive emotional affects. Results of this test were significant, t(198) = 9.22, p < .0001, indicating that art therapy program participants (M = 28.3, SD = 5.9) had higher positive emotional affect than did non-art therapy program participants (M = 20.1, SD = 5.9). Another two-tailed t-test was conducted to compare negative emotional affects. Results of this test were also significant, t(198) = 3.19, p < .0016, indicating that art therapy program participants (M = 16.4, SD = 4.1) had a higher percentage of positive interactions during their daily lives than did non-art therapy program participants (M = 14.2, SD = 5.6).
Daily Experiences
An independent samples t-test was conducted for the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) analysis to determine whether or not participants and non-participants in the art therapy program differed in daily positive emotional regulation and interaction with other humans. Responses to a matrix of pre-determined questions were coded into mutually exclusive categories. These categories were compiled into a percentage format, defining the percentage of positive emotional affect and positive social interactions. Results of this test were significant, t(198) = 10.76, p < .0001, indicating that art therapy program participants (M = 77.3, SD = 8.6) had a higher percentage of positive interactions during their daily lives than did non-art therapy program participants (M = 61.5, SD = 12.1).
Quality of Life
An independent samples t-test was conducted for the Quality of Life Scale (QOLS) analysis, to determine whether or not participants and non-participants in the art therapy program differed in overall quality of life. QOLS scores are added up individual item numbers to yield a total score, in which higher scores are reflective of higher quality of life. Results of this test were significant, t(198) = 14.66, p < .0001, indicating that art therapy program participants (M = 89.7, SD = 5.3) had a higher quality of life than non-art therapy program participants (M = 75.3, SD = 8.6).
Correlation of Measurements
In order to see how the three separate analyses correlate in terms of how general emotional regulation, we conducted a correlation test. All three of the tests were significantly correlated to each other, indicating that as scores on one of the tests increased (each score measured a slightly different variation of positive emotional affect), scores on the other tests were likely to also increase. Specific correlation values are reported in Table 2.
Discussion
It was our aim to understand how the presence of an implemented art therapy program affects the ability of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder patients to better control their emotional regulation and expression. We proposed that the presence of such a mandatory art therapy program significantly increases the ability of PTSD patients to gain control of their emotional regulation and expression. Through our three analyses measures (PANAS X, ESM, and QOLS), we found support for the hypothesis suggesting that art therapy programs lead to improvement in general emotional affect, daily positive emotion, daily positive social interactions, and levels of overall health, well being, and quality of life.
The past research on art therapy would support a hypothesis that it has beneficial effects on subjects in at least some areas of social or cognitive functioning. However, given some biological research suggesting that art therapy increases frequencies in the temporal lobe that is important for self-awareness and emotion expression, (Lobban 2014), our findings may not be that unexpected. However, Hattori and associates (2011) had both similar and different findings: that art therapy programs have the ability to significantly improve quality of life, but do not significantly improve cognitive functioning. Although we were focusing specifically on the emotional regulation viewpoint of art therapy, it is important to note that previous art therapy research demonstrates that it is not an effective overall cure to mental disorders such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Similar studies, including the Montag et al., Lobban, and Hattori et al. studies have shown that art therapy can overall improve the quality of life of individuals. Although these experiments did not examine the extent of how improvement in quality of life leads to improvement in emotional regulation and expression, they demonstrate a potential plausible relationship. More specifically, in a slightly different study, schizophrenic patients who participated in an art therapy program were found to significantly improve their psychosocial functioning and awareness of emotional states, and also were able to better understand emotional states of other people and themselves. Although this study observed a different subset of the population with different mental illness, it indicates potential beneficial relationships between this type of therapy (non-verbal, creative expression therapy) and emotional regulation. Our interpretations of these previous experiments are preliminary at this point, and further research should be conducted to explore the more specific, potentially beneficial effects that art therapy has on regulation and expression of relationships.
We expected to find significant results, because art expression in general has been proven to relieve internal struggles by allowing patients to manifest their memories and emotions in a physical, artistic manner. Our subpopulation that was tested, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder patients, has been found to re-experience their negative emotions and memories through physical states rather than declarative verbal memories (Lobban, 2014). Allowing such patients to express their non-declarative memories in a non-verbal manner, in the form of artistic expression allows them to experience parallel cognitive processes. Learning how to express emotions, which can become manifested in negative, physical ways as a result of the Post-Traumatic Disorder Disease, is very important for such patients. Teaching themselves, with the aid of art therapists, how to express these emotions through a non-verbal process than regular verbal therapy, can provide patients with alternative methods to improve their abilities to control these maladaptive emotions.
Performing multiple analyses was helpful in determining specific areas of emotional affect that art therapy has effects on. The PANAS X test was conducted to measure differences in basic positive and negative states, as well as intricate affective states. Based on the results, we see that the presence of an art therapy program not only increases positive emotional affects of patients, but also decreases negative emotional affects. This specific test suggests that participation in an art therapy program leads to improvement in general emotional affect. Furthermore, based on results from the Experience Sampling Method tests, we see that participation in art therapy programs is associated with increased positive emotion and positive social interactions, as measured longitudinally at immediate points throughout the day. Finally, the Quality of Life Scale results led us to conclude that participation in art therapy programs is associated with higher levels of overall health, well being, and quality of life.
The current study has important implications for the effects of art therapy by providing a greater understanding of how its implementation is correlated with increased emotional regulation and quality of life. Given the seriousness and large occurrence of the negative outcomes associated with traumatic experiences due to situations like assault or war, fully understanding beneficial ways to ease mental and emotional processes is imperative in healing patients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Our findings suggest that new, alternative therapies such as art therapy can positively affect patients in that they learn to express emotions through a non-verbal way, which might be more appropriate in context of cultural norms and types of trauma experienced that damages this emotional affect.
Potential sources of bias in this experiment include the presence of a potential subject bias and also experimenter bias. The patients were all from the same area (metro Atlanta, Georgia) and were ranked at a majority average income with strong education. This leads to a low generalizability of the study, in that patients in other areas of the nation and with differing socio-economical status may experience different social interactions or life stressors. This difference would affect measures such as the Experience Sampling Method, which partly deals with subjective states including perceptions of current social situations. Furthermore, although a main goal of this study was to increase the power from previous studies, there is still potential to increase the number of participants in order to make the study more generalizable to the entire population of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder patients.
Another possible limitation is that although the implemented art therapy programs were identical in terms of what sorts of activities the patients performed weekly, there were five different art therapists present within the program. The relationship between the patient and the art therapist is very important in how the patients are able to cope with and accept their treatment (Luzzato, et al., 2001), so any differences in relationships between the patient and therapist could have led to a threat in internal validity. Future studies can clarify that all hired art therapists have consistent emotional affects, in that they all have warm outward interactions with their patients.
Future studies should continue to focus on how art therapy over a continued period of time can affect emotional regulation. In our studies, it was demonstrated that art therapy had a significant positive impact on positive interactions, emotional affects, overall health, well-being, and quality of life. Therefore, future studies can potentially focus on long-term effects of art therapy on other specific areas of mental health, like general happiness or social involvement, to expand on our conducted study. Another future study should focus on the biological bases of how art therapy affects functions and interactions within the human brain, by studying fMRIs and EEGs in PTSD patients undergoing art therapy programs. Understanding the physiological bases of why and how art therapy works is important in order to understand the outwardly visible psychological impacts that it has.
More groups, beyond those with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, should also be included in such studies. Art has been a form of human communication for centuries, and it is just recently becoming studied in the psychological world as a form of communication for internal struggles and issues. Thus, research in art therapy should be applied to other domains in the real world, such as in how art therapy can affect the manners in which children with autism function with their peers, or how art therapy can help relieve certain aspects of depression or anxiety.
The reason art therapy should be researched in other domains of life is because it can be applied to many situations. Art therapy has been very recently introduced into the psychological world as a new type of therapy, allowing patients to externalize emotions and feelings in a more creative and non-verbal manner. Not only can it help individuals re-enact and consolidate traumatic experiences of all sorts, but it can also help individuals control internal memories and emotions related especially to negative past life events. Because of this characteristic of art therapy, it has the possible potential to aid the entire population by introducing a new skill to improve general mental health and emotional functioning.
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