Emotion regulation strategies and effects in art-making: A narrative synthesis

Gruber, Harald; Oepen, Renate

doi:10.1016/j.aip.2017.12.006

Cited by 39 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Our findings are in accordance with the findings of Haeyen [30], stating that patients learn to express emotions more effectively, because AT enables them to “examine feelings without words, pre-verbally and sometimes less consciously”, (p.2). The connection between art therapy and emotion regulation is also supported by the recently published narrative review of Gruber & Oepen [87], who found significant effective short-term mood repair through art making, based on two emotion regulation strategies: venting of negative feelings and distraction strategy: attentional deployment that focuses on positive or neutral emotions to distract from negative emotions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

The effectiveness of art therapy for anxiety in adults: A systematic review of randomised and non-randomised controlled trials

et al. 2018

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BackgroundAnxiety disorders are one of the most diagnosed mental health disorders. Common treatment consists of cognitive behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy. In clinical practice, also art therapy is additionally provided to patients with anxiety (disorders), among others because treatment as usual is not sufficiently effective for a large group of patients. There is no clarity on the effectiveness of art therapy (AT) on the reduction of anxiety symptoms in adults and there is no overview of the intervention characteristics and working mechanisms.MethodsA systematic review of (non-)randomised controlled trials on AT for anxiety in adults to evaluate the effects on anxiety symptom severity and to explore intervention characteristics, benefitting populations and working mechanisms. Thirteen databases and two journals were searched for the period 1997 –October 2017. The study was registered at PROSPERO (CRD42017080733) and performed according to the Cochrane recommendations. PRISMA Guidelines were used for reporting.ResultsOnly three publications out of 776 hits from the search fulfilled the inclusion criteria: three RCTs with 162 patients in total. All studies have a high risk of bias. Study populations were: students with PTSD symptoms, students with exam anxiety and prisoners with prelease anxiety. Visual art techniques varied: trauma-related mandala design, collage making, free painting, clay work, still life drawing and house-tree-person drawing. There is some evidence of effectiveness of AT for pre-exam anxiety in undergraduate students. AT is possibly effective in reducing pre-release anxiety in prisoners. The AT characteristics varied and narrative synthesis led to hypothesized working mechanisms of AT: induce relaxation; gain access to unconscious traumatic memories, thereby creating possibilities to investigate cognitions; and improve emotion regulation.ConclusionsEffectiveness of AT on anxiety has hardly been studied, so no strong conclusions can be drawn. This emphasizes the need for high quality trials studying the effectiveness of AT on anxiety.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

The effectiveness of art therapy for anxiety in adults: A systematic review of randomised and non-randomised controlled trials

et al. 2018

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“…Artistic exercises, like for example expressive writing, can downregulate emotional distress and promote self-insight (e.g., Pennebaker and Chung, 2007), Thus, ER is an important factor in evaluating AT treatment effects. The connection between AT and ER has already been studied and preliminary established in a narrative review on effectiveness studies (Gruber and Oepen, 2018), primarily focusing on changes in mood in healthy subjects. To gain more insight in the working mechanism(s) of AT on anxiety, it is important to not only investigate the effectiveness of AT on anxiety symptom severity, but also simultaneously explore the role of ER.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effectiveness of Art Therapy for Anxiety in Adult Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

et al. 2019

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Objectives: Art therapy (AT) as a treatment option for anxiety is regularly employed in clinical practice, but scientific evidence for its effectiveness is lacking, since this intervention has hardly been studied. The aim was to study the effectiveness of AT on anxiety in adult women. The specific type of AT studied was anthroposophic AT. Methods: A RCT comparing AT versus a waiting list (WL) condition on anxiety symptom severity, quality of life, and emotion regulation. Factors influencing treatment outcome were additionally explored. Participants were women, aged 18-65 years, diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder or panic disorder, with moderate to severe anxiety symptoms. The trial was registered in the Dutch Trial Registration (NTR28143). Results: Fifty-nine women were included, of which 47 completed the trial. Both perprotocol and intention-to treat analyses demonstrated effectiveness of AT compared to WL, showing a reduction in anxiety, an increase in subjective quality of life (both with large effects) and an improvement in accessibility of emotion regulation strategies (medium effect). Treatment effects remained after 3 months follow-up. Improved acceptance of emotions and improved goal-oriented action are aspects of emotion regulation that are associated with the decrease in anxiety level. Conclusion: AT is effective in reducing anxiety symptoms, improving quality of life and aspects of emotion regulation. Future RCTs should use active controls (treatment as usual) and study cost-effectiveness.

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“…Jung (2012) calls this approach active imagination, which involves a particular type of imaginative activity similar to dreaming with your eyes open. Another approach involves using positive emotions to distract attention from negative emotions and focus instead on the development of the positive emotions ( Gruber and Oepen, 2018 ). Drawing divine Tibetan Buddhism symbols such as mandalas is a counterbalancing response because the mandala image painted by an individual would illustrate some characteristics of their psychological trauma.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooperative and Individual Mandala Drawing Have Different Effects on Mindfulness, Spirituality, and Subjective Well-Being

et al. 2020

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Mandala drawing was first practiced by Tibetan buddhists and then developed by Carl Gustav Jung, who felt certain that mandala drawing has the function of integrating psychological division, enhancing psychological harmony, and preserving personality integrity. Previous studies on mandala drawing have mainly focused on alleviating people’s negative emotions, such as anxiety and depression. Therefore, this study explored the effect and mechanism of mandala drawing on the improvement of subjective well-being (SWB), mindfulness, and spirituality from positive psychology’s viewpoint and compared the different effects of cooperative mandala drawing (CMD) and individual mandala drawing (IMD) on mindfulness, spirituality, and SWB. A total of 76 students were recruited from Chang Gung University, and the aforementioned three main variables were measured before and after the coloring experiment. The results indicated that both CMD and IMD significantly enhanced the subjects’ spirituality. Compared with IMD, CMD has a more significant improvement and promotion effect on SWB of subjects by affecting PA, while IMD had no significant effect on PA, and the enhancement effect of SWB was weaker than that of CMD. Mindfulness, spirituality, and SWB all positively correlated with each other. This study highlights the mechanism of mandala drawing and the theoretical understanding of the relationship between mindfulness and SWB. Mandala drawing especially CMD has a positive effect on spirituality and SWB, which may provide individuals with a simple and easy method to improve their happiness.

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Emotion regulation strategies and effects in art-making: A narrative synthesis

Cited by 39 publications

References 29 publications

The effectiveness of art therapy for anxiety in adults: A systematic review of randomised and non-randomised controlled trials

The effectiveness of art therapy for anxiety in adults: A systematic review of randomised and non-randomised controlled trials

The Effectiveness of Art Therapy for Anxiety in Adult Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Cooperative and Individual Mandala Drawing Have Different Effects on Mindfulness, Spirituality, and Subjective Well-Being

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