Affect Regulation and Treatment for Depression and Anxiety through Art: Theoretical Ground and Clinical Issues

Advances in neuroscience research have shown that depression and anxiety are closely related to affect regulation, the emotional processes that work within the brain system. This paper reviews two major areas of affect regulation. The first area accounts for the relationships between affect regulation and the functions of the left/right hemispheric brain, as well as the effect of these emotional processes on the autonomic nervous system. The interpersonalneurobiological basis of affect regulation is also elaborated. The discussion implies that depressed and anxious individuals with seriously disturbed emotional or cognitive processes could probably benefit from the enhancement of right hemispheric brain processes via nonverbal form of communication. With capabilities of strengthening emotional and nonverbal processes that occur in the right hemispheric brain, nonverbal forms of psychotherapy, including art therapy, could have benefits in the treatment of depression and anxiety. On the theoretical basis of affect regulation, the second area of discussion focuses on how the assessment and healing functions of various art media adopted in art therapy treatment correlate with left/right hemispheric brain processes. The discussion sheds light on the therapeutic use of art media to allow individuals with mood problems to experience, express, and communicate emotions effectively via nonverbal forms of treatment. The mind-body approach and the various processes of art therapy treatment can attune psychophysiological processes and help to integrate brain processes holistically to improve affect regulation and enhance well-being.published_or_final_versio

Promoting and restoring emotional well-being: effects of clay art therapy for depressed patients

Paper Session 10OBJECTIVES: Depression creates huge socioeconomic problems globally and will become the most serious cause of disability in 2030 (WHO, 2008). Integrative verbal/nonverbal psychosocial interventions on depression have documented benefits of better understanding and communication of feelings and thoughts, improvement of general mental health condition and increase of self-confidence in depressed patients. As one of the integrative arts therapy models, Clay Art Therapy (CAT) combines sensory, kinesthetic and psychological treatment components in supporting patients with psychological distress. The present study aims to evaluate the effects of CAT on depressed patients which have been rarely reported in the literature. METHODS: The study adopted a randomized control design in which 79 depressed patients from outpatient clinics were randomly allocated into the CAT intervention group (CAT) and non-directive Visual Art control group (VA).Both groups composed of six 2.5-hourweekly sessions. Intervention efficacy was measured by the Chinese version of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12). Data were collected at baseline, end of treatment (T1) and three weeks after (T2). RESULTS: Results of repeated measures ANOVA showed significant difference between CAT and VA, F(1, 59) = 6.028, p = .017. Participants in CAT had a rapid drop of scores from baseline (M=21.93, SD=7.54) to T1 (M=15.00, SD=8.82) with a significant mean decrease of 6.93 (95% CI, 3.26 to 10.59), t(40) = 3.82, p < .000. The change from baseline to T2 (M=13.10, SD=7.69)was also significant and the score had a significant decrease of 8.83 (95% CI, 5.63 to 12.03), t(40) = 5.59, p < .000. Change of scores in between the three time points of measurement in VA was insignificant. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that participants can benefit more from CAT than VA on reduction of depressive signs and improvement of general mental health. Treatment effects can be maintained for three weeks. CAT can potentially be used on depressed patients. Other psychosocial benefits and the machanisms of the therapy is worthy of further investigation

An expressive arts-based and strength-focused experiential training program for enhancing the efficacy of teachers affected by earthquake in China

The 2008 Sichuan Earthquake killed over 9000 teachers and children leaving profound physical and emo-tional problems are prevalent among survivors. Many being victims themselves, teachers in the earth-quake affected areas not only have to recover a sense of personal efficacy in dealing with the difficulties, they also need to feel adequately prepared in their teaching roles to handle the changes in the classroom environment and student needs. Expressive art is a well-established tool to facilitate the expression of thoughts and feelings that can also be incorporated as interactive classroom activities—an approach that deviates from the traditional top-down teaching mode in China. A 3-day experiential training program based on expressive arts and strength-focused approaches was provided for 57 elementary and high school teachers across the earthquake area. This study evaluated changes after the training program. Re-sults showed that teachers’ general self-efficacy and teaching efficacy were significantly improved (t = 2.54, p = .01; t = 4.08, p = .00). The improvement in teaching efficacy is contingent upon the quality of relationship with students, after controlling for ethnicity.link_to_OA_fulltex