This week Mad in America examines three studies around art therapy and art-based interventions for mental health issues. Two studies reported on the lived experience of art-based interventions and one documents the results of an art therapy clinical trial. Both the lived experiences of service users and a randomized controlled trial find that art therapy can be beneficial for psychiatric service users.
Inpatient Adolescent Mental Health Care: Art Therapy, Acute Distress, and Restrictive Practices
A new study published in the International Journal of Art Therapy finds that art therapy was beneficial for adolescents in a psychiatric inpatient setting. Participants reported that art therapy relieved distress by creating opportunities to exercise agency, allowing them to express how they felt inside, and providing participants with a sense of calm. This research, led by Sarah Versitano of Western Sydney University in Australia, also found that participants had trouble communicating with staff, felt constrained by the inpatient setting, and were frequently distressed by mental health escalations.
The goal of the current work was to explore how art therapy may reduce distress in an adolescent inpatient mental health setting. The authors argue that distress frequently precedes the use of restrictive practices. Therefore, if art therapy can reduce service user distress, it can reduce the use of restrictive practices which both research and service users have reported as harmful and traumatic.
The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 adolescents admitted to one of two acute inpatient child and adolescent mental health units in Sydney, Australia. These interviews focused on participants’ direct experience of art therapy. After each interview, participants were invited to give feedback about the interview process and suggest how it may be improved. The suggestions for improvements were implemented in the following interviews.
The interviews were conducted by an art therapist that had not served as the participant’s primary art therapist. Interviews were audio recorded and the artwork created by each participant was photographed. The researchers identified themes present in the interviews and invited participants to provide feedback concerning these themes.
Two overarching themes emerged from the interview data. The first theme, challenging aspects of inpatient admission, was often the subject of the art service users created during art therapy sessions. The second theme, art therapy and emotional distress, dealt with how service users experienced art therapy as an outlet for navigating emotions and distress.
The authors identified three sub-themes dealing with challenging aspects of inpatient admission. Participants expressed (1) problems communicating with staff, particularly with staff frequently asking them to quantify how they were feeling. One participant reported “It’s very hard to put a word or a number to how you’re feeling a lot of the time.” Participants also struggled with treatment team meetings, describing them as “long and overwhelming.” Art therapy provided a space for service users to express emotions non-verbally as well as an outlet for distress after difficult treatment team meetings.
Participants reported that the (2) constraining environment of the inpatient unit was distressing, due to the “cramped” feeling of the physical space, “all the restrictions,” and reduced social connectedness. Art therapy allowed service users to express their frustrations with constraints and to connect meaningfully with their peers. It also allowed a space for service users to vent after (3) distressing experiences of mental health escalations. The authors note that art therapy was particularly valuable in helping service users manage the urge to self-harm.
The authors also identified three sub-themes dealing with art therapy and emotional distress. Service users were able to (1) express what was going on inside of them, which helped to “release a lot of stuff I was bottling up, and stuff I couldn’t explain through words.” Art therapy (2) provided a sense of freedom in the often oppressive inpatient psychiatric setting, giving service users “a time where you get to do what you want, and express your feelings onto a page, with no judgment.” Service users also reported (3) positive physiological and emotional effects of art therapy. One participant reported they “always felt calmer after sessions … because it’s more focusing on now … the present.” Another reported that “sometimes you forget you’re in the hospital because you just focus on the artwork.”
The authors acknowledge two main limitations to their work. The sample size was relatively small, which is often the case with qualitative studies. The first author acted as both an art therapist and a researcher. While the participants primary therapeutic relationship was with another art therapist, the data may have been biased by the first author’s dual role in the research. This means participants may have said what they thought the authors wanted to hear rather than what they actually believed. Additionally, the small sample size and the fact that all the participants were located within Sydney, Australia significantly limits generalizability to other populations.
Art as an Agent of Wellbeing and Social Participation for Mental Health: A Qualitative Study
A new study published in the Community Mental Health Journal finds that an art-based intervention meant to promote social participation, community integration, and meaningful occupation had positive effects for people diagnosed with a “serious mental disorder.” This research, led by Nerea Díez-Ríos from the University of Coruña in Spain, reports that service users experienced art both as an agent of socialization and as improving well-being through providing a sense of purpose, identity, and belonging.
The goal of the current work was to examine how service users diagnosed with a “serious mental disorder” experienced an art based intervention after participation in “A Museum in Motion.” This program brings museum artworks to service users, rather than requiring them to travel to a museum.
The authors recruited participants from a psychosocial and occupational rehabilitation center in Spain. In order to be included in the current research, participants had to have a “serious mental disorder” diagnosis (such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depressive disorder), be actively engaged in rehabilitation, participate in the “A Museum in Motion” program, and be able to communicate their experiences of the program and subsequent intervention. In total, 18 people participated in the current study.
After viewing works of art from a museum, the participants made collages inspired by those works of art. They then worked together on a shared art project. The authors conducted focus groups and in-depth interviews with participants, followed by identifying common themes in this data.
The authors identified two major themes, art as an agent of socialization and wellbeing and empowerment through meaningful occupation. Art as an agent of socialization had three components. This intervention helped service users break isolation by allowing structured interaction with peers. The collaboration encouraged participants to build social networks and practice social skills outside of a clinical environment. These interventions also helped participants overcome stigma, acting as creators rather than patients.
Wellbeing and empowerment through meaningful occupation also had three components. Participants felt positive emotions as a result of engaging with art. Some reported a temporary reprieve from their symptoms during the intervention. Participants felt a sense of agency in the creative process. Participants also reported identity transformation as they began to see themselves as artists and art students rather than people with a mental “illness.”
The researchers identified several limitations to their work. The small sample size and focus on a single rehabilitation center in Spain severely limit generlazability to other populations. Participants were not selected randomly and were already engaged in rehabilitative work around art. This means that those not already interested in art, and those with more severe barriers to community participation, may have had significantly different experiences of this program. The authors did not measure clinical outcomes. There was not a long-term follow-up, meaning the current work cannot say if this intervention was beneficial in the long run.
Effects of Visual Arts Therapy Based on Watson’s Human Care Model in Individuals with Schizophrenia: A Randomized Controlled Trial
A new randomized control trial published in Current Psychology finds that art therapy led to increased perceived social support and functional recovery for people diagnosed with schizophrenia. The current work, led by Nurcan Düzgün of Gazi University in Turkey, also finds that art therapy is closely aligned with Watson’s Human Care Model. This model is a person-centered approach to nursing that emphasizes genuine care for service users rather than simply trying to cure them.
The aim of this research was to examine how art therapy effects perceived social support and functional recovery in people diagnosed with schizophrenia. The researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial to achieve this aim.
Participants were recruited from the Community Mental Health Center at a state hospital in Ankara, Turkey. In order to be included in the trial, participants had to have a schizophrenia diagnosis, be in remission, be over 18 years old, have moderate to high levels of insight, have the ability to read and understand the trial instructions and data collection forms, and voluntarily agree to participate. Exclusion criteria included having a psychotic diagnosis in addition to schizophrenia, severe physical illness, problems with vision, hearing, speech, or upper extremity mobility, and past participation in art therapy. In total, 72 people participated in the current trial. Five participants dropped out during the course of the study, leaving 67 people that completed the entire trial.
Participants were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (33) or the control group (34). The intervention group participated in weekly art therapy sessions for six weeks. No intervention was given to the control group. Data on perceived social support and functional recovery was collected before the intervention, at the end of the intervention, and at a follow-up four weeks after the end of the intervention.
The intervention group showed improvements across all the dimensions of perceived social support and functional recovery measured in the current work, both at the end of the intervention and at the four week follow-up. The control group’s scores remained mostly consistent throughout the study.
The pre-intervention average for the measure of social support in the intervention group was 31.24 compared to 30.91 in the control group. After the intervention group participated in group art therapy sessions for six weeks, their average score increased to 53.70. This score increased slightly at the follow-up to 55.09. The control group’s average score decreased slightly to 30.26 at the post-intervention measure, and fell again to 29.68 at the four week follow-up.
The pre-intervention average for the measure of functional recovery in the intervention group was 41.39 compared to 45.74 in the control group. After the art therapy sessions, the intervention group’s average score increased to 60.36. It increased again at the four week follow-up to 62.18. The control group’s average score increased slightly to 45.91, then decreased to 45.09 at the four week follow-up.
These results indicate that the art therapy intervention significantly improves both perceived social support and functional recovery in people diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The authors acknowledge two main limitations to the current work. The study has limited generalizability and the follow-up measure was fairly short at only four weeks. This data cannot speak to long term outcomes of art therapy in people with a schizophrenia diagnosis.
****
Düzgün, N., & Demir, S. (2026). Effects of visual arts therapy based on Watson’s human care model in individuals with schizophrenia: A randomized controlled trial. Current Psychology, 45(3). (Link)
Díez-Ríos, N., Palacios-Ceña, D., Pérez-Corrales, J., Florencio, L. L., Rodríguez-Pérez, M. P., & Simó-Algado, S. (2025). Art as an agent of wellbeing and social −participation for mental health: A qualitative study. Community Mental Health Journal, 62(2), 219–230. (Link)
Versitano, S., & Paton, J. (2026). Inpatient adolescent mental health care: Art therapy, acute distress, and restrictive practices. International Journal of Art Therapy, 1–13. (Link)