Routinely prescribed psychological therapies for depression are not always effective. Arts therapies, particularly Dance Movement Psychotherapy, may offer additional therapeutic mechanisms for depression. Therefore, client-reported helpful factors from various therapy types, along with client preferences, are key in devising new therapeutic interventions. We present a framework for a new pluralistic 'meta-approach' of therapy for depression, based on an interdisciplinary thematic synthesis (Thomas & Harden, 2008) of active ingredients from both talking therapies and creative approaches.Lastly, we offer an example group therapy workshop based on this approach, to be piloted with clients and practitioners within an NHS mental health service. Further research is required to evaluate this pilot and to devise a full treatment for trialling within the service.

Art s fo r t h e Blu e s -a n e w c r e a tiv e p sy c h olo gi c al t h e r a p y fo r d e p r e s sio n: a pilo t w o r k s h o p r e p o r t H a sl a m , S, P a r s o n s, AS, O mylin s k a-T h u r s t o n, J, N air, K, H a rlow, J, Le wi s, J, Th u r s t o n, SD, G riffin, J, D u b r o w-M a r s h all, LJ a n d Ka r k o u, V h t t p:// dx. d oi.o r g/ 1 0. 1 1 7 7/ 1 7 5 7 9 1 3 9 1 9 8 2 6 5 9 9 Ti t l e Art s fo r t h e Blu e s -a n e w c r e a tiv e p s yc h olo gic al t h e r a p y fo r d e p r e s sio n: a pilot w o r k s h o p r e p o r t A u t h o r s H a sl a m , S, P a r s o n s , AS, O m ylin s k a-Th u r s t o n, J, N a ir, K, H a rl ow, J, Le wi s, J, Th u r s t o n, SD, G riffin, J, D u b r o w-M a r s h all, LJ a n d Ka r k o u, V Typ e Articl e U RL This ve r sio n is a v ail a bl e a t : h t t p:// u sir.s alfo r d. a c. u k/id/ e p ri n t/ 5 1 0 1 4/ P u b l i s h e d D a t e 2 0 1 9 U SIR is a di git al c oll e c tio n of t h e r e s e a r c h o u t p u t of t h e U niv e r si ty of S alfo r d. W h e r e c o py ri g h t p e r mi t s, full t e x t m a t e ri al h el d in t h e r e p o si to ry is m a d e fr e ely a v ail a bl e o nli n e a n d c a n b e r e a d , d o w nlo a d e d a n d c o pi e d fo r n o nc o m m e r ci al p riv a t e s t u dy o r r e s e a r c h p u r p o s e s . Pl e a s e c h e c k t h e m a n u s c ri p t fo r a n y fu r t h e r c o py ri g h t r e s t ri c tio n s. Fo r m o r e info r m a tio n, in cl u di n g o u r p olicy a n d s u b mi s sio n p r o c e d u r e , pl e a s e c o n t a c t t h e R e p o si to ry Te a m a t: u si r@ s alfo r d. a c. u k . Abstract:Research over the last decade has identified both strengths and limitations in the use of routinely prescribed psychological therapies for depression. More recently, a focus on creative art therapies, and 'art on prescription' are developing a growing recognition of their potential additional therapeutic mechanisms for depression. Therefore, in an attempt to develop a new therapeutic intervention for depression, this research aligned both the evidence base surrounding the arts on prescription movement, collating these with clientreported helpful factors and preferences for therapeutic interventions. We developed a framework for a new pluralistic 'meta-approach' of therapy for depression, based on an interdisciplinary thematic synthesis of active ingredients, considered specific features implemented in therapy and client reported helpful factors considered to be the broad features or experiences in therapy from both talking therapies and creative approaches. This framework contributed to the development of a pilot workshop entitled; Arts for the Blues -A New Creative Psychological Therapy for Depression. An outline of, and evaluation from, this workshop is presented in this paper. Workshop participants were recruited via a voluntary workshop taking place at a North West Higher Education Institution Arts and Health conference (N=15). The workshop was evaluated using quantitative measures, with results indicatin...

There have been several arguments for the need to generate evidence‐based creative forms of psychological interventions in Improving Access to Psychological Services (IAPT), the main primary mental health provider in hospitals in England, UK. In this feasibility study, we sought to identify helpful and unhelpful factors of a new creative group psychotherapy, titled Arts for the Blues. We also wanted to find out whether the research tools used were acceptable and sensitive. We therefore engaged a group of seven patients attending an IAPT service in the North West of England, and a group of six staff working in the same service, to attend one creative workshop each, followed by a focus group. The two focus groups were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. We also collected pre‐ and post‐measures of depression (PHQ‐9) and anxiety (GAD‐7), measures commonly used in IAPT services, plus measures of well‐being (WHO‐5), the PANAS, and goal‐setting, which were considered for acceptability and sensitivity. We received largely positive responses from service users and staff in the use of creative methods in psychotherapy. Although the measures used had limitations due to the short duration of one‐off creative workshops, we found that they were sensitive enough, easy to complete and, thus, were acceptable. We concluded that Arts for the Blues is a promising intervention in IAPT, especially since it is shaped by service users and staff working in these services. Further work is needed to establish the effectiveness of this new intervention.