Art for Humanizing Mental Illness When Teaching Diagnosis

Teaching a class that covers psychiatric diagnoses is essential for graduate students in mental health professions both for the purpose of providing informed therapeutic services for their clients who may have been diagnosed with a mental illness, and, increasingly, for the provision of diagnosis as a licensed clinician in the United States. Art therapy educators designed an experiential learning approach rooted in two frameworks that humanize mental illness (Two Continua Model of Mental Health and Mental Illness, Power Threat Meaning) combined with reflective art viewing and making. A cumulative art assignment based on one-canvas painting fosters students’ critical perspectives through four observed patterns: appreciating impact of layering; understanding mental illness through art materials and processes; empathizing through reflecting on one’s own experiences; and recognizing the wholeness of those living with mental illness. The incorporation of response art in the psychopathology class has had the intended dual impact of instilling a humanizing approach to mental illness and fostering self-reflection.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Music Therapy and Art Therapy

Palliative care is provided by an interdisciplinary team, including physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and other disciplines based on need. Music therapists and art therapists are becoming increasingly available to palliative care teams and are advancing the diverse and unique clinical services available to effectively meet the holistic needs of patients with serious illnesses and their families. This article provides a concrete exploration of clinical music therapy and art therapy within palliative care and hospice paradigms, with discussion of therapists' training and expertise, therapeutic approaches within the setting of interprofessional team-based care, and discussion of evidence-based symptom management and outcomes supporting the inclusion of music and art therapies within medical education and clinical employment.

Safe Place collage protocol: Art making for managing traumatic stress

The Safe Place collage protocol is an intervention developed by an art therapist that offers clients a structured method for acknowledging and managing both comfortable and disturbing emotional experiences simultaneously. The objective of this pilot study was to determine: 1) the effectiveness of this protocol in reducing anxiety for clients who experienced trauma and 2) their experience of the protocol. This study utilized a practice-oriented research design methodology that incorporated both quantitative and qualitative evaluations. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) measured the degree to which the Safe Place affected anxiety. For the 22 participants in an art therapy clinic who completed the intervention, the results indicated a statistically significant decrease in anxiety. Qualitative analysis identified three art making strategies: negating, tolerating, and integrating. Analyzing the STAI scores of these three groups indicated that participants who utilized an integrating strategy had the greatest reduction in anxiety. The Safe Place collage protocol may be a useful intervention for helping clinicians assess readiness for trauma therapy, as well as aiding clients in addressing traumatic material and managing distressing experiences.

Art viewing directives in hospital settings effect on mood

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect viewing directives can have when encountering art in hospitals. A secondary objective of the study was to understand the responses of viewers to an art exhibit on the theme of medical student empathy toward patient pain and suffering.

BACKGROUND

Displaying art in hospitals has been credited with increasing well-being of patients, visitors, and staff. Generally, hospital curators have focused on the type of art to display (natural, symbolic, and abstract). This focus has neglected the possibility that in addition to the type of art, the way that viewers engage art may also be responsible for the healing effect.

METHODS

Participants (n = 97) were randomly allocated into one of the viewing directives: (1) reflecting on one artwork, (2) creating a drawing or poem in response to one artwork, or (3) no direction. Prior to looking at the art and immediately after, participants were administered the Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS) and offered an opportunity to participate in an interview.

RESULTS

Pre-post results of the BMIS demonstrated that viewers who received directions achieved some therapeutic effect. Qualitative themes from the post-exhibit interviews identified that the empathy themed exhibit was well received, although there were differences among responses from patients, visitors, and staff.

CONCLUSIONS

The results imply that hospitals may consider offering prompts to help viewers engage with art to enhance mood and exhibiting art that demonstrates empathy for patient suffering.

Medical student mandala making for holistic well-being

The objective of this qualitative research study was to discover how creating mandalas (art made in reference to a circle) might provide medical students with an opportunity for reflection on their current psychological state. As part of their year 3 family medicine rotation, medical students participated in an art-making workshop, during which, they created mandalas based on their current emotional state. Afterwards, they engaged in reflective writing and discussion. The responses of 180 students were analysed and coded according to the mandala classification framework 'Archetypal Stages of The Great Round of Mandala'. The results indicated that students were actively struggling in integrating conflicting perspectives as they were attempting to reconcile their professional identity as doctors. Additional results pertaining to psychosocial characteristics included navigating difficult emotions, requiring nurturance, handling endings, contemplating existential concerns and managing stress. The study has implications for making use of mandala making within a Jungian framework as means for medical students to reflect on their emotional state and achieve psychological balance.

Psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the Stigma Scale: examining the complex experience of stigma and its relationship with self-esteem and depression among people living with mental illness in Hong Kong

BACKGROUND

Stigma of mental illness is a global public health concern, but there lacks a standardized and cross-culturally validated instrument for assessing the complex experience of stigma among people living with mental illness (PLMI) in the Chinese context.

AIM

This study examines the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the Stigma Scale (CSS), and explores the relationships between stigma, self-esteem and depression.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a community sample of 114 Chinese PLMI in Hong Kong. Participants completed the CSS, the Chinese Self-Stigma of Mental Illness Scale, the Chinese Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Chinese Patient Health Questionnaire-9. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to identify the underlying factors of the CSS; concurrent validity assessment was performed via correlation analysis.

RESULTS

The original 28-item three-factor structure of the Stigma Scale was found to be a poor fit to the data, whereas a revised 14-item three-factor model provided a good fit with all 14 items loaded significantly onto the original factors: discrimination, disclosure and positive aspects of mental illness. The revised model also displayed moderate to good internal consistency and good construct validity. Further findings revealed that the total stigma scale score and all three of its subscale scores correlated negatively with self-esteem; but only total stigma, discrimination and disclosure correlated positively with depression.

CONCLUSION

The CSS is a short and user-friendly self-administrated questionnaire that proves valuable for understanding the multifaceted stigma experiences among PLMI as well as their impact on psychiatric recovery and community integration in Chinese communities.

A Model for Art Therapy-Based Supervision for End-of-Life Care Workers in Hong Kong

End-of-life care workers and volunteers are particularly prone to burnout given the intense emotional and existential nature of their work. Supervision is one important way to provide adequate support that focuses on both professional and personal competencies. The inclusion of art therapy principles and practices within supervision further creates a dynamic platform for sustained self-reflection. A 6-week art therapy-based supervision group provided opportunities for developing emotional awareness, recognizing professional strengths, securing collegial relationships, and reflecting on death-related memories. The structure, rationale, and feedback are discussed.

Art-making in a family medicine clerkship: how does it affect medical student empathy?

BACKGROUND

To provide patient-centred holistic care, doctors must possess good interpersonal and empathic skills. Medical schools traditionally adopt a skills-based approach to such training but creative engagement with the arts has also been effective. A novel arts-based approach may help medical students develop empathic understanding of patients and thus contribute to medical students' transformative process into compassionate doctors. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of an arts-making workshop on medical student empathy.

METHODS

This was a mixed-method quantitative-qualitative study. In the 2011-12 academic year, all 161 third year medical students at the University of Hong Kong were randomly allocated into either an arts-making workshop or a problem-solving workshop during the Family Medicine clerkship according to a centrally-set timetable. Students in the arts-making workshop wrote a poem, created artwork and completed a reflective essay while students in the conventional workshop problem-solved clinical cases and wrote a case commentary. All students who agreed to participate in the study completed a measure of empathy for medical students, the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) (student version), at the start and end of the clerkship. Quantitative data analysis: Paired t-test and repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare the change within and between groups respectively. Qualitative data analysis: Two researchers independently chose representational narratives based on criteria adapted from art therapy. The final 20 works were agreed upon by consensus and thematically analysed using a grounded theory approach.

RESULTS

The level of empathy declined in both groups over time, but with no statistically significant differences between groups. For JSE items relating to emotional influence on medical decision making, participants in the arts-making workshop changed more than those in the problem-solving workshop. From the qualitative data, students perceived benefits in arts-making, and gained understanding in relation to self, patients, pain and suffering, and the role of the doctor.

CONCLUSIONS

Though quantitative findings showed little difference in empathy between groups, arts-making workshop participants gained empathic understanding in four different thematic areas. This workshop also seemed to promote greater self-awareness which may help medical students recognize the potential for emotions to sway judgment. Future art workshops should focus on emotional awareness and regulation.

Viewing and engaging in an art therapy exhibit by people living with mental illness: implications for empathy and social change

OBJECTIVE

To determine how healthcare professionals, family members and community members responded to an art exhibit created by people living with mental illness.

STUDY DESIGN

Phenomenological study with qualitative analysis.

METHODS

Forty-six participants with various relationships with people living with mental illness attended an art therapy exhibit and art making workshop. Surveys, response art, reflective writing and discussion groups were used in this qualitative research study.

RESULTS

Responses were categorized into four cluster themes: empathic, self-oriented, other-oriented and world-oriented.

CONCLUSIONS

Each response category has strengths and weaknesses, indicating implications for increasing awareness and understanding of the artists and mental illness. They also inform educational interventions that can be utilized when using art exhibits for the purpose of confronting bias and stigma towards people living with mental illness.