[The effects of art therapy on the somatic and emotional situation of the patients--a quantitative and qualitative analysis]. / Die Auswirkungen der Kunsttherapie auf das körperliche und emotionale Befinden der Patienten--Eine quantitative und qualitative Analyse.

In this pilot study, changes in the patients' current mood during art therapy sessions in a psychosomatic day hospital as well as the meaning of the pictures generated during art therapy are assessed. The sample consisted of 26 patients. The average participant had 16 sessions of art therapy, which was conducted in a group setting. To measure their mood and somatic symptoms, patients were given standardized questionnaires (B-L and ASTS, a German modification of POMS) at the beginning and the end of every art therapy session. In addition, 15 patients were interviewed about the pictures they had created during the art therapy sessions (104 interviews in total). The quantitative evaluations showed a statistically significant reduction in somatic symptoms and a tendency to be in a more positive mood during the course of the day treatment. However, there were no significant differences from the beginning to the end of every therapy session. The evaluation of the interviews showed that the paintings mainly dealt with the patients' own (current, problematic) issues. The colours that were chosen for the painting were particularly important to most patients, and often there is no connection to paintings created during the previous sessions. The patients' problems are often depicted in a symbolic manner. Subjectively, the patients felt better after the art therapy session. They indicated that they mostly use art therapy as a way to express their problems, and only very few also named other goals of art therapy, such as creativity or relaxation.

Do you see what I see? A study about the interrater reliability in art therapy.

There are many clinical reports on art therapy, but there are few data from experimental research. The main goal of this study was to investigate the interrater agreement of 86 raters who evaluated a picture created during an art therapy session. This rating was based on formal (color, lines, shapes) and contextual criteria. The resulting interrater agreement was not satisfying (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.18-0.52). The authors also address the question of whether raters are able to determine which picture was created at the beginning of the art therapy and which was created at the end. On the basis of the examination of five sets of pictures, it became apparent that they were not able to do so.