Abstract
This study evaluated the potential benefit of weekly group art therapy in groups of adult psychiatric outpatients at a university medical center. Eighteen patients participated in 4 successive 8-week groups of 6 to 8 patients each that met weekly and were led by 2 therapists (a board-certified art therapist and a psychiatry resident). The standardized Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was administered pre- and post-treatment. Ten patients who attended 4 or more sessions of group art therapy were included in the study. The mean group CES-D scores for the study patients decreased significantly from pre- to post-treatment. This is the first pilot study report of the efficacy of group art therapy using a standardized depressive measure in heterogeneous adult psychiatric outpatients.
Acknowledgments
Editor's Note: Shambhavi Chandraiah, MD, FRCPC, is a psychiatrist and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, MS. Susan Ainlay Anand, ATR-BC, LPAT, LMFT, and Lindsay Cherryl Avent, MS, LPC, are clinical instructors in the same department.