Description of arts therapies practice with adults suffering from depression in the UK: quantitative results from the nationwide survey

There is growing evidence that arts therapies may be under-used treatments for the 'global burden' of depression. However, the experiences of arts therapists, their methods, tools and ways of working with this client group remain unclear. Arts therapies in the UK are a form of psychotherapy. They use arts media alongside therapeutic relationship as means of therapeutic change and include four disciplines: Art Therapy (AT), Music Therapy (MT), Dance Movement Psychotherapy (DMP) and Drama Therapy (DT). In 2011, all arts therapists registered in the UK were invited to complete an online questionnaire concerning their practice in general and specifically in relation to clients with depression. The Arts Therapies Survey received 395 responses. Arts therapists who work primarily with depression were identified and compared to those who do not work with depression on a range of factors, including preferred theoretical approaches and style of working. Arts therapists who specialise in depression tend to follow Psychodynamic principles more often, are more likely to be older and experienced, work with groups, in health settings and with adults more often than children or adolescents. These quantitative findings enable the description of most common practice of arts therapies with depression in the UK and are intended to serve as a reference for arts therapists themselves and other professionals interested in the treatment of depression. Qualitative data gathered in the survey will be presented in a separate paper, with the aim of deepening the understanding already gained. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

Dance/Movement and Drama Therapy Methods to Assess Resistance in Adolescents with Low Sense of Identity and Self-Esteem: Development of a Method

Drama and Dance/Movement based therapies have the ability unlock the psyche through the mind/body connection by gaining access to innate creativity that is prevalent in childhood and often begins to diminish in adolescence. For this thesis, adolescents from a low socio-economic background participated in an Expressive Arts Therapy processing and support group, aimed to build self-esteem, strengthen communication skills, alleviate social anxiety and become part of a community. Dance/movement and Drama therapy techniques were implemented, due to their social nature which promotes embodied self-expression and strengthens verbal problem-solving communication. These two particular modalities have proven to enable deep self-awareness and understanding. Through implementation of these directives with adolescents it was discovered that they often respond in a resistant manner. The purpose of this method was to observe and examine the factors that prevent adolescents from fully participating in dance/movement and drama therapy directives in an authentic manner. It was hypothesized that the structure of the group, which prevented deep creative exploration, the imbalance of co-facilitation and the identity crisis of adolescents’ developmental stage contributed to the resistance of dance/movement and drama therapy directives

Building Nature: A Nature-Based Drama Therapy Method in an Urban Program

Finding a mental health center that fits the needs of an individual can take time. Some individuals must travel to different states and enter large metropolises to find the specific type of support they need for their mental health journey. This can mean that for extended periods of time, as individuals go through residential treatment, partial hospitalization programs (PHP), and/or intensive outpatient programs (IOP), they can not only find themselves in a completely new community, but also entirely removed from nature. For this reason, my thesis focused on creating a method to reconnect humans ‘trapped’ in an urban setting with the healing power and benefits of nature. I incorporated nature elements to engage as many senses as were available amid the COVID-19 pandemic guidelines for sanitation and safety. I believe that the incorporation of a nature-based drama therapy method into an adult PHP program can help improve emotional and physiological self-regulation, group cohesion, and inspire patients to reconnect with nature as a tool for their own personal growth and healing journeys

Description of arts therapies practice with adults suffering from depression in the UK: Qualitative findings from the nationwide survey

There is growing evidence that arts therapies present a relevant treatment option for depression, but the experiences, methods, tools and methods of practice of arts therapists with this client group remain unclear. Thus, this research study aimed to describe the specifics of the practice of arts therapies with depression. In 2011, all arts therapists registered in the UK were invited to complete an online questionnaire concerning their practice in general and in relation to depression. The Arts Therapies Survey received 395 responses. Arts therapists who work primarily with depression were identified and compared to those who do not work with depression on a range of factors. These quantitative results were presented elsewhere (Zubala, MacIntyre, Gleeson, & Karkou, 2013). An analysis of the qualitative material was guided by the strategy of grounded theory, and findings were obtained through thematic analysis. The current paper introduces these findings, adding depth to the knowledge previously gained through the quantitative analysis. Arts therapists worked across various settings with highly complex clients; however, therapists struggled with the tension of providing care according to guidelines, which they found inflexible and at times misguided. The therapists tended to vary the theoretical model of their therapeutic approach depending on individual client factors and often collaborated with other professionals using a variety of standardized tools to measure outcomes. The findings further offer a detailed understanding of the therapeutic process and describe the meaning of clinical practice within arts therapies

A Match Made in Mental Health: An Exploration in Using Drama Therapy as an Adjunct Therapy Paired with Psychoeducation

This project focuses on the use of drama therapy as an adjunct therapy with psychoeducation to increase insight, engagement, and information retention with adults who are managing severe mental illness. The facilitator (this writer) utilized drama therapy and psychoeducation to aid adult clients (20-75years of age) in a goal-setting group. It was conducted with a mixed diagnoses group in a community mental health agency partial care program. The group was made up of English speaking only, Spanish speaking only, and bi-lingual clients. Most of the clients receive government benefits such as Medicaid, SSI, etc. The study took place over the course of 10 weeks, totaling 9 weekly sessions. Participant insight, engagement, and information retention was tracked through the facilitator\u27s journal, worksheet packets, and agency participation tally sheets. It was observed that the use of gesture and embodiment, in this particular group, increased client engagement as well as information retention. This writer gained insight into what it entails to document reliable observations while creating a method. The difficulty in doing so was primarily due to the facilitator working without a co-facilitator or reliable outside clinical observer. The process of tracking progress in a group with frequent turn over and inconsistent attendance was also a large challenge for the facilitator. However, it was apparent that there were emerging drama therapy core processes (Jones, 1996) that aided the group in personal growth

Creative Arts Therapies Students\u27 Professional Development: Mixed Methods Longitudinal Research

This mixed-methods longitudinal study sought to describe, understand, and explain the professional development (PD) of graduate students during art therapy (AT), dance movement therapy (DMT), and drama therapy (DT) training (N = 51). Repeated measures of students’ scores in profession-related variables were performed. Quantitative theory testing probed the extent to which students confirm Rønnestad and Skovholt’s (2003) theory of counselors and therapists’ PD as representative of their pre-training and in-training experiences. Qualitative theory derivation generated data-driven concepts to modify and refine the extant theory. Data were collected using My Vocational Situation, Career Commitment Measurement, and questionnaires for each developmental phase. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, analyses of variance, correlation analyses, repeated measures, qualitative data quantification, measurements of inter-rater agreement, and thematic analysis. Results indicate that whereas students’ professional identity and career commitment significantly increased, this increase did not differ between the three modality specializations; yet, scores of DMT and next AT students were overall significantly higher than scores of DT students. Students’ perceived environmental and personal barriers to career decision-making decreased; yet perceived financial barriers slightly increased. Results also revealed that students entered training for various motivations. The results confirm that transition into training provoked stress and anxiety for all students and that most students avoided art making outside of training. In-training arts making, exposure to different modalities, and professional socialization in the field cultivated students’ PI and sense of belonging to the CAT profession. A flow chart displays the emerged model of students’ PD process, policy and practice implications are suggested, and recommendations for further research are offered

Exploring Storytelling with Survivors of the Sierra Leone Civil War

Bessal van der Kolk (2007) describes the effects of childhood trauma and concludes that the body remembers trauma. Meaning that the results from one\u27s negative experience holds that energy until it is released. Those who have experienced traumatic events due to war may have never had an opportunity to heal from it. In researching different approaches to mental health interventions, this thesis shows the power of storytelling through the method of interviewing. The participants in this investigation are survivors of the civil war in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Six Part story method by Lahad (2006) is used to analyze the reflection of participant response to the entire process

Connecting With Our Roles Through Post Traumatic Growth After Experiencing Medical Trauma

This paper explores the combination of drama therapist, Robert Landy’s (1993), Role Theory and the psychological concept of Post Traumatic Growth (Tedeschi, 2018). The author created a protocol that involved psychoeducation surrounding the five domains of Post Traumatic Growth and a role card sort involving the drama therapeutic process of role theory. A young adult client experiencing significant medical trauma participated in these processes during a three session intervention. Results indicated that the client viewed negative experiences as potentials for growth toward furthered resilience and future hope and optimism. The sample size was limited to one person and further search is needed to further understand if this intervention has efficacy

Healing the Body through Awareness, and Expression: The Polyvagal Theory and the Expressive Arts in Therapy with Women Who Have Been Abused

There are women who are survivors of abuse who aren’t receiving the appropriate therapeutic treatment. These survivors are not healing from their trauma that is held in their bodies. This is a literature review on the polyvagal theory, and the expressive arts in therapy with women who’ve been abused while also integrating intersectionality. The review further explores the most appropriate ways to implement the polyvagal theory in therapy with survivors, as well as the expressive arts. The review explores body-oriented therapeutic interventions as well; Specific interventions include, autonomic art mapping, show and tell, musical mapping, and movement, which the body is the main focus. Emotional and artistic expression helps survivors of abuse cope with the psychological effects that was caused by the abuse. Major search terms used were, polyvagal theory, women, abuse, expressive arts, and body-oriented psychotherapy. Findings from the review revealed three major themes/approaches to be beneficial, which were the body, polyvagal theory, and expressive art therapy. The polyvagal theory and the expressive arts, combined, are a great tool for allowing survivors to be more present in their bodies and to be able to self-regulate, by understanding where they find themselves in their bodies when they are triggered. Conclusions show a potential model of treatment that can be offered for this population

Expressive Arts Therapy and Therapeutic Relationship with a Child with Selective Mutism: Development of a Method

Selective mutism (SM) is a rare, yet severe, anxiety disorder that affects primarily children. SM is characterized by a failure to speak in certain social situations (i.e., school), despite being able to speak comfortably in other settings (i.e., home). There is an ongoing effort to understand this diagnosis and best treatments are being debated. The therapeutic relationship is argued to be one of the greatest predictors of positive treatment outcomes, regardless of the diagnosis or treatment method; however, the failure to speak that characterizes SM impacts the development of a therapeutic relationship and that alliance cannot be formed using typical methods. Despite its significance, this topic has not been explored in the current literature. Expressive arts therapy offers many modes of nonverbal expression that could be beneficial to the development of therapeutic relationships with this population. Using the expressive therapies continuum as a framework for therapeutic activities, a method was designed to develop a therapeutic relationship with an 11-year-old girl with SM. Implemented in a therapeutic school setting, the method was conducted over six 30-minute sessions. Observations of the client and therapist suggest that expressive arts therapy may be beneficial in the development of a therapeutic relationship with a child with SM. Further research on this topic could improve treatment outcomes for children with SM