This randomized controlled study examined the effects of creating open circle mandalas with divergent instruction type (distraction and reflection) and medium type (resistive and fluid) on state anxiety, mood, and mindfulness. The design followed a 2 (instruction type) x 2 (medium type) x 3 (time) mixed experimental design. Reflective writing…

The Compassionate Arts Psychotherapy (CAP) program integrates self-compassion and arts psychotherapy practices, which are informed by a compassionate arts media (CAM) continuum. A mixed methods pilot program evaluation with a pretest-posttest single group design, followed by an open-ended survey, was conducted. Participants included 18 graduate…

The Dual-Process Model of grieving suggests that oscillation between negative and positive emotions occurs throughout the grieving process. If either negative or positive emotions are overly emphasized the grieving process could be stymied. To determine how art therapy can support this model, this study evaluated changes in positive and negative…

This study investigated art therapy-based self-help online tasks (ATB-SHOT) as a means to support university students during the COVID-19 lockdown by (a) measuring effectiveness on mood repair (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and Self-Assessment Manikin scales, pre- and postintervention) and (b) correlating outcomes with participants'…

This case study describes an art therapy intervention with a client diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease who was coping with grief. The course of fifteen sessions included three phases: body awareness, grief emotions, and grief acceptance. The positive changes parallel ways that art therapy can benefit older adults by promoting communication,…

This publication presents the qualitative findings from a mixed-method pilot study on three- and four-drawing protocols for chronic pain, which have demonstrated significant positive quantitative results. For this report, thematic analysis and magnitude coding of drawing titles, narratives, and characteristics including resource representations…

Art therapy can be particularly successful in addressing the specific needs of individuals struggling with anorexia nervosa (AN) through the use of the creative process. This article provides an understanding of the effect of malnourishment on the brain for individuals with AN and discusses how their unique needs can be met through the application…

Although individual and group art therapy is beneficial for individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD), progression of the disease negatively affects visual processing, which suggests the need to modify art-based interventions. This case study (N = 1) used a psychological well-being scale to compare nonmodified art therapy for an individual with…

We evaluated changes in positive and negative affect of grieving children in response to art making compared to another noncreative, non-expressive, but engaging visuospatial task and assessed whether art making was equally or differentially effective in individual versus collaborative settings. We randomly assigned grieving children to one of…

The authors hypothesized that a textile art-making activity that was high in arousal, engagement, and positive mood and low in rumination and negative affect would be most effective for mood repair and would buffer inflammatory immune reactions. Forty-seven experienced textile handcrafters were asked to recall an upsetting situation before random…