Visual arts in counselling adults with depressive disorders

ABSTRACT

This study provides a better understanding of using visual arts in counselling adults with depressive disorders. Three in-depth case studies were conducted in the counselling unit of a mental health hospital in Malaysia. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were applied to explore three adult participants’ counselling experiences. They attended six individual counselling sessions, which included four art-making activities, and two after-session interviews, for approximately two months. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. The findings showed that through the therapeutic use of visual arts, the participants were able to explore and express various emotions, face their problems, communicate better with themselves and the counsellor, achieve a deeper self-understanding, and make meaningful progress in counselling, even though some of them experienced a sense of uncertainty at the beginning of some art-making activities.

KEYWORDS:

• Counselling
• depressive disorders
• visual arts

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Lee Khai Ling is a Licensed Professional Counsellor, Sunshine Counselling Centre Johor, Malaysia, PhD Guidance and Counselling, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Email: [email protected]

Professor Dr Mohamed Sharif Mustaffa is Professor, Faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development, University Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia. Email: [email protected]

Dr Tan Soo Yin is Sub-Dean of Student Development & Counselling, Office of Teacher Education; Senior Lecturer of Psychological Studies, NIE, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]