Treating the emotional and motivational inhibition of highly gifted underachievers with music psychotherapy: Meta-analysis of an evaluation study based on a sequential design.

The psychological and neuropsychological characteristics of gifted children and adolescents are analysed, as well as the emotional and behavioural risks linked to this condition. A prospective follow-up study of N=93 highly gifted students suffering from school failure at the beginning of adolescence was implemented. They were treated with an integrated form of music psychotherapy and verbal psychotherapy in 5 separate groups. The methodology of treatment combined active musical improvisation with the writing of stories or the production of drawings under musical induction, followed by verbal elaboration in the cognitive-psychodynamic psychotherapeutic tradition. The evaluation was based on a mixed-methods design, combining psychometric scales, projective tests and expressive tests. Comparative pretest-posttest, correlational and multidimensional analyses were computed, using non-parametric statistical procedures adapted to small samples and data belonging to a mixed level of measurement. We present a meta-analysis of the confirmatory results in 5 subgroups. There was a significant increase in the capacity of concentration, the capacity of imaginary and symbolic elaboration, the pictorial and literary creativity, self-esteem, the quality of coping strategies, as well as in school marks. There was a significant decrease in defensive functioning and in embitterment and resignation. The latent dimensions extracted with Optimal Scaling procedures from the correlational matrixes of the Delta values of TAT and TSD-Z were meaningful at the light of the state-of-the-arts. The results of the study confirm a prior theoretical modelization coming out of the preparatory stage of the research project. They are interpreted at the light of recent findings in developmental and clinical psychology of adolescence and they open many tracks for future research.

[Using arts therapies in psycho-oncology: evaluation of an exploratory study implemented in an out-patient setting]. / Application de l'art thérapie en psycho-oncologie: evaluation d'une étude exploratoire en milieu extrahospitalier.

According to the state-of-the-art in health psychology and psycho-oncology, a cancerous disease, as well as the accompanying medical treatments, is a source ofintense emotional stress. As feelings of insecurity and anxiety are likely to induce negative effects on immune defences, those effects may overlap with the cancerous disease and complicate its evolution. As arts therapies tend to favour the imaginary and symbolic elaboration of the tensions of daily life, as well as the re appropriation of one's body and personal history, different artistic mediations may occupy an important function in the psychological follow-up of the patient. Following an exploratory study in a hospital, we carried out an action-research in an out-patient setting during six moths. The arts therapeutic treatment comprehended alternatively drawing and writing sessions while listening to music, opening tracks for a thorough verbal elaboration. The evaluation was based on psychometric scales (HADS and MDBF), rating scales for the pictorial and literary production and a semi-structured interview. According to the results of the quantitative analyses, based on non parametric statistical procedures for small groups and non metric data, as well as to the qualitative content analyses, arts therapies could become a valuable treating measure within a multidisciplinary bio-psycho-social approach.

[Defence mechanisms and coping strategies in men and women: a comparative and structural study based on the artistic production of people suffering from a break-up of their life project]. / Mécanismes de défense et stratégies d'ajustement au masculin et au féminin: etude structurale comparée basée sur la production artistique de personnes en rupture de projet de vie.

A comparative study of men and women suffering from a break-up of their life project allowed us examining the typically female and male manners to cope with trauma, anxiety, guilt, depression and internal destructivity. In a first stage, an exploratory study was focussed on 206 subjects, belonging to several clinical subgroups: people living in great precarity and long-term unemployed people, asylum seekers and refugees, drug addicts, prisoners and people coming out of prison. Secondly, arts therapeutic sessions were proposed with the aim of helping the participants finding an outlet to their situation. The artistic production (drawings and stories induced by music) was analysed with the help of original rating scales, constructed in a phenomenological and structural perspective. We will present a synthesis of our qualitative observations, as well as some results of typological and structural studies, computed with the help of non parametric statistical procedures on the data of N = 93 participants. The results allow us pointing to gender differences and defining typically male and female coping styles. Differential indications for psychotherapy can be extracted from these analyses.

[Evaluation in the interest in arts psychotherapy treatment of alcoholics hospitalized for a weaning process--presentation of two clinical examples]. / Evaluation de l'intérêt de la prise en charge par l'art thérapie de personnes alcooliques hospitalisées pour un sevrage--presentation de deux études de cas.

The aim of our study is to show the relevance of art therapeutic treatment with an alcoholic population met in the weaning department of a general hospital. A current tendency of research in psychology consists in using an integrated quantitative and qualitative methodology. This approach is especially suited to the study of the therapeutic intervention. In arts therapeutic research the investigation of the artistic production and the application of a projective test (Rotter) may complete the psychometric tools: SVF 78 Stressverarbeitungsfragebogen by Janke W., Erdmann G., Kallus W.; MDBF Mehrdimensionalen Befindlichkeitsfragebogens by Steyer R., Schwenkmezger P., Notz P., Eid M.. The results of the study show the relevance of our art therapeutic treatment. We are going to illustrate the multidimensional reality of the therapeutic process by two clinical examples.