Melania Dovizio , Claudia Rossi , Mirko Pesce , Giulia Candeloro , Valeria Pica , Annalisa Bruno , Vincenzo De Laurenzi , Patrizia Ballerini , Doris Sommer , Pier Luigi Sacco
{"title":"A single-arm pilot study to assess salivary metabolites in facilitators tested with Pre-Texts arts-literacy intervention","authors":"Melania Dovizio , Claudia Rossi , Mirko Pesce , Giulia Candeloro , Valeria Pica , Annalisa Bruno , Vincenzo De Laurenzi , Patrizia Ballerini , Doris Sommer , Pier Luigi Sacco","doi":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102367","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102367","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Pre-Texts arts-literacy intervention has demonstrated effectiveness for reducing depression and anxiety symptoms in adolescents. However, the biological mechanisms underlying these psychological changes remain largely unexplored. This single-arm pilot study investigated the impact of Pre-Texts training on salivary metabolite profiles in adults (N = 10) undergoing facilitator training. Participants completed a 20-hour Pre-Texts program over four days, with saliva samples collected at baseline, during training (day 3), immediately post-intervention (day 4), and at 8-week follow-up. Flow injection analysis-tandem mass spectrometry quantified seven key metabolites linked to glutamate signaling (glutamic acid, glycine, valine, proline) and cellular metabolism/energy production (alanine, citrulline, C3 propionylcarnitine). Results demonstrated significant and sustained increases in glutamic acid, glycine, valine, proline, alanine, and citrulline, with concurrent decreases in C3 propionylcarnitine, versus baseline. These neurobiochemical changes were still present at follow-up, indicating the possibility of sustained effects on neurotransmission and cellular energetics. The observed metabolic shifts may reflect mechanisms involving NMDA receptor activation, neuroplasticity, cognitive flexibility, and stress response regulation. This preliminary investigation establishes methodological foundations for an expanded research examining the biological mechanisms underlying arts-based interventions, suggesting that Pre-Texts may foster neurometabolic changes that may be supportive of cognitive and emotional wellbeing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47590,"journal":{"name":"Arts in Psychotherapy","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 102367"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145221441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"\"Holding the Space\": An art therapy open studio for preadolescent war evacuees as an analytic third","authors":"Irit Birger Sagiv , Einat Metzl , Tova Goren , Keren Sahar , Rachel Sussman , Shosh Indyk","doi":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102364","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102364","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this paper, six art therapists utilize an art-based focus group to explore their experience of facilitating an Open Studio in the context of mass trauma. The Open Studio, in this case, was formed to serve as a non-directive art-making healing space for preadolescent war evacuees. First, the literature review focuses on the conceptualizations of mutual recognition and the analytic third and their relevance to the Open Studio model for shared trauma processing. Second, using interpretative phenomenological analysis and visual analysis as the multimodal approach (Boden et al., 2019), the therapists' art responses and verbal reflections that were thematically analyzed are presented. The finding highlighted the shared group experiences for both the participants and therapists. Challenges and advantages arose from working within an ongoing and shared traumatic reality of war, as did the art therapists’ role when operating as members of a team. Art making and witnessing art made within a communal space appeared to support the emergence of the analytic third, in which multiple opportunities for profound mutual recognition, self-exploration, and connections played out despite and because of the context and setting.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47590,"journal":{"name":"Arts in Psychotherapy","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 102364"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145221443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Parent-child art therapy: Strengthening parents’ representations of the ‘good object’ through the ‘rose-colored glasses’ approach","authors":"Tami Gavron , Judith Harel","doi":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102363","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102363","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Parent-Child Art Therapy (PCAT) integrates the principles of dyadic psychotherapy with creative processes to address relational difficulties between parents and children. This therapeutic approach fosters communication and transformation within the parent-child relationship through artmaking. The \"rose-colored glasses\" approach introduced by Harel (2022) underpins this work, where the therapist’s positive, integrative stance toward parents is aimed at strengthening their representation of themselves as a \"good object\" for their child. This paper explores the theoretical and clinical foundations of PCAT, and more specifically how therapists can cultivate epistemic trust, mentalization, and reflective functioning in parents, thus enabling them to better understand and support their children. A detailed vignette illustrates the use of PCAT in addressing the complex dynamics of an adoptive parent-child dyad. Artmaking facilitated relational repair and mutual growth, which enabled the parents to navigate feelings of guilt and frustration while augmenting their emotional connection with their child. Through shared creative processes, the parents transitioned from a critical self-perception to a good parental representation that contributed to bolstering the child’s emotional resilience and self-expression. The discussion centers on the issues therapists face in maintaining a positive view of parents amidst negative relational dynamics, and advocates for the use of art therapy to support multidimensional relational transformation. By adopting the \"rose-colored glasses\" approach, therapists can facilitate the restoration of positive internal representations that increase trust within the parent-child relationship and can lead to relational growth and repair.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47590,"journal":{"name":"Arts in Psychotherapy","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 102363"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145221442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring the feasibility of multidisciplinary collaboration in Israeli school inclusion teams: Structures, barriers, and the role of arts therapists","authors":"Liat Cohen-Yatziv , Dafna Regev , Sharon Snir","doi":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102362","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102362","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As schools increasingly adopt holistic approaches to education, multidisciplinary teams have become key to supporting students with disabilities in general education settings. In Israel, the Special Education Law (SEL) enables students with disabilities to receive tailored services and be integrated into the regular education system. These services are provided by multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), composed of professionals from various disciplines who work together to develop and implement individualized education programs (IEPs) that outline the support and interventions for eligible students. Multidisciplinary collaboration involves coordinated teamwork among professionals from diverse fields, requiring clear communication, shared goals and mutual respect. Grounded theory research, based on semi-structured in-depth interviews, was used to examine the perceptions and attitudes of 36 members of multidisciplinary school teams, including arts therapists, working in general education schools in Israel. Five themes emerged from the data: team interaction as the core of collaborative work, implications for multidisciplinary collaboration, features that sustain and strengthen team collaboration, barriers and complexities to promoting and sustaining team collaboration, and the role of arts therapists in multidisciplinary teams. The findings shed new light on the feasibility of multidisciplinary collaboration in Israeli special education school teams that include arts therapists. They confirm previous studies and contribute to the growing literature on interdisciplinary practice in inclusive education.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47590,"journal":{"name":"Arts in Psychotherapy","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 102362"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145106518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rui Luo , Rui Ding , Xiaohui Wang , Wangyu Zhou , Yaru Hou
{"title":"Enhancing emotion regulation through group: A pilot study of psychodrama intervention among college students in China","authors":"Rui Luo , Rui Ding , Xiaohui Wang , Wangyu Zhou , Yaru Hou","doi":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102361","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102361","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Psychodrama is gaining traction in China as both a therapeutic modality and a developmental intervention. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility, preliminary efficacy, and procedural refinement of an eight-week psychodrama program designed to enhance emotion regulation among Chinese college students. Using a two-arm, non-randomized controlled design, 22 undergraduates attended weekly 150-minute sessions led by a trained social worker. A convergent mixed-methods approach combined quantitative self-reports with qualitative reflections. Compared with controls, participants in the psychodrama group showed significant post-intervention reductions in expressive suppression; qualitative data further revealed heightened emotional expression, broadened cognitive insight, and uniformly positive experiences. These findings suggest that psychodrama can effectively improve emotional well-being in China and merits wider application in social work practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47590,"journal":{"name":"Arts in Psychotherapy","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 102361"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145118976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Professional development of creative arts therapists: Foundations, experiences and paths","authors":"Joana Machorrinho , Luana Prado , Graça Duarte Santos","doi":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102358","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102358","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Creative arts therapists are interdisciplinary professionals with diverse backgrounds and fields of intervention, required to be experts at integrating expressive-creative processes with the therapeutic process. Due to the complexity and duality of this work, and the multiple influences they experience, the professional identity of creative arts therapists has been under discussion, mainly in countries where the profession is recognized and professional institutions established. The objective of this study was to explore the foundations, characteristics and paths of the professional identity of creative arts therapists in a country where the profession is not yet recognized.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>Content analysis of semi-structured interviews with beginners and senior arts therapists working in Portugal.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Six themes emerged: Training conditioning, Practice conditioning, Creative and Expressive path, Therapeutic path, Intervention, and Self-Reflection. Participants mentioned social and personal influences on their path, including family, creative-expressive aspects and personal therapy. Arts were the main theoretical foundations referenced by the participants, with emphasis on drama and movement, and within psychology, mainly dynamic and group approaches. The main guides of professional practice are the patients they work with, highlighting the therapeutic relationship. Other relationships are also highly relevant as motivators for self-reflection, especially those with colleagues. The main conflicts regarding professional identity occur in the art and therapy axis, while the main point of cohesion is between personal and professional life.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>These results are crucial for shaping both academic training and professional practice, ensuring the continued growth and recognition of arts therapy as a vital profession in Portugal.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47590,"journal":{"name":"Arts in Psychotherapy","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 102358"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145020285","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Annie Heiderscheit , Alison Short , Gro Trondalen , Laurel Young
{"title":"An integration of physical and psychological health through the Hero’s Journey in Guided Imagery & Music: A cross-case analysis","authors":"Annie Heiderscheit , Alison Short , Gro Trondalen , Laurel Young","doi":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102348","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102348","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Hero’s Journey narrative is prevalent in literature and the cinema and is also often utilized as a framework within which to explore and understand the circuitous nature of a client’s therapeutic process. The Hero’s Journey is conceptualized and discussed predominantly as a psychological process occurring within the mythological and imagery world of the client in psychotherapy, which is also applied to music psychotherapy approaches such as Guided Imagery and Music (Bonny Method). A cross case analysis of case studies conducted by researcher-clinicians from four different countries have revealed unexpected affordances of the Hero’s Journey for both physical and psychological domains via narrative and thematic analyses of clients’ GIM experiences. This cross-case analysis compares four GIM clients’ narratives from four different countries of origin within four applied clinical contexts: substance use disorder, a single musician, cancer care, and cardiac rehabilitation. A brief client history and summarized therapeutic case material from each case study (research or clinical) is presented in terms of methodology, emergence, and significance of the Hero’s Journey. The cross-case analysis explores and reviews these GIM case studies, where clients have undergone literal physical and psychological transformation and/or engaged with both physical and psychological aspects of their health conditions as integral components of their therapeutic and recovery processes. Further, links are made to manifestations of mental and physical health with the Hero’s Journey in the GIM process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47590,"journal":{"name":"Arts in Psychotherapy","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 102348"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145106510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Angel David Blanco , Eleni Kroupi , Aureli Soria-Frisch , Adam Gazzaley , Refik Anadol , Ana Maiques , Giulio Ruffini
{"title":"Enhancing mental well-being through AI-generated art: Insights from EEG responses to Refik Anadol’s unsupervised at MoMA","authors":"Angel David Blanco , Eleni Kroupi , Aureli Soria-Frisch , Adam Gazzaley , Refik Anadol , Ana Maiques , Giulio Ruffini","doi":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102347","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102347","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Art therapy has emerged as a promising avenue for enhancing mental health and emotional well-being. This study explores the therapeutic potential of engaging with AI-generated art by examining the neural and emotional responses elicited by Refik Anadol’s immersive installation, <em>Unsupervised</em>, at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Thirty-one participants experienced a 20-minute session divided into four segments, during which their emotional states were assessed using self-reported questionnaires on valence and arousal, and their brain activity was monitored via EEG. Findings revealed significant increases in pleasure (d = 1.6) and excitement (d =.68) post-exposure, indicating enhanced positive affect. EEG data showed reduced gamma power in posterior brain regions and increased gamma power in anterior regions among those who reported an aesthetic experience (AE). Additionally, changes in Frontal Alpha Asymmetry (FAA), a marker associated with emotional and motivational states, correlated strongly with self-reported well-being (r = .65, p = .0005). These results suggest that AI-generated art can positively influence mood and emotional states, supporting its potential use as a tool in art therapy to promote mental health. This study demonstrates the feasibility of integrating physiological measures in naturalistic settings like museums, paving the way for future applications of art therapy in diverse environments to enhance psychological well-being.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47590,"journal":{"name":"Arts in Psychotherapy","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 102347"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144989589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Art therapists’ perspectives on working with a central issue in time-limited art therapy","authors":"Rotem Abraham , Dafna Regev , Sharon Snir","doi":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102346","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102346","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explored art therapists' perspectives on working with the central issue in Time-Limited Art Therapy (TLAT), a structured short-term framework grounded in Mann’s Time-Limited Psychotherapy (TLP; Mann, 1973). While previous research has noted the benefits of short-term art therapy, structured conceptualizations of such approaches remain under-researched. The study examined how art therapists initially formulated and then collaboratively refined and engaged with the central issue across TLAT. Attention was given to the role of artmaking in illuminating emotional and self-related aspects of the central issue, maintaining therapeutic focus, and fostering change. This study was conducted in an art therapy research clinic in a college setting, where nine art therapists delivered 26-session individual TLAT treatments. Data collection included semi-structured interviews at three phases of therapy (post-intake, mid-therapy, post-termination) and 290 process journals written by the therapists. These materials were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) to identify key domains, core ideas, and themes related to therapeutic work with the central issue. The analysis revealed five interrelated domains: the integration of art in the intake phase, formulating the central issue, delivering the central issue to the client, the significance of the central issue during therapy and at termination, and the meaning of therapy in terms of the central issue. Overall, structured work on the central issue, supported by artmaking, appeared to deepen emotional exploration and promote client self-awareness, relational growth, and therapeutic progress. These findings underscore the potential of TLAT, as a dynamic art therapy approach, to optimize outcomes within time-limited treatment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47590,"journal":{"name":"Arts in Psychotherapy","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102346"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144895104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evaluation of themed open art studio for day hospice patients","authors":"Leng Hong Ong","doi":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102345","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aip.2025.102345","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study evaluates the impact of themed open art studios on emotional well-being among 20 terminally ill patients in day hospice care (mean age 73.1; 67 % female). Participants engaged in a series of creative sessions over three months, centered on themes of “Self,” “Gratitude,” and “Hope.” Participants rated their emotional states before and after each session using a simple 0–5 Likert scale. Statistical analysis revealed a significant overall improvement in well-being (mean increase +0.52 points, <em>p</em> < .001). The “Self” theme yielded the largest gains (+0.9 points), likely due to its emphasis on introspection and self-compassion, followed by “Gratitude” (+0.7) and “Hope” (+0.1). Notably, male participants showed greater emotional improvement than females (<em>p</em> = .012), suggesting cultural norms around gendered emotional expression may influence outcomes. Participants reported high satisfaction with the program with regards to creative freedom (mean rating 4.09/5), feelings of achievement (3.89), self-reflection (3.88), social connection (3.82), and renewed meaning in life (4.09). Findings demonstrate the potential of art studios in fostering emotional resilience, personal insight, and social bonding within palliative care. By integrating themed art studios into routine care, hospices may better address the complex psychosocial dimensions of terminal illness, empowering patients to navigate their journeys with agency and dignity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47590,"journal":{"name":"Arts in Psychotherapy","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102345"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144903975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}