Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Exploring Identity Development Through The Expressive Arts Among Immigrant Youth, A Literature Review, Jessika De Castro

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

According to the APA’s Presidential Task Force on Immigration (2012), the immigrant population within the US increases every year. Immigration to a new country increases risk factors for young immigrants, resulting in a negative impact on their mental health. It has been shown in the literature that arts-based approaches can be extremely helpful in the treatment of mental health issues brought on by the stressors of immigration and when people are dealing with a sense of loss towards their country of origin. For first generation immigrants, coming to the US during their adolescence, as young adults, means that they are …

Impact Of Covid-19 On Asian Communities In The U.S. And A Treatment Intervention For Collective Trauma Through Art Therapy: A Literature Review, Elena Zhuoqian Li

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Acknowledging the Asian community’s racial trauma during the COVID-19 is extremely important for the mental health community to understand as the impact of collective trauma can be significant on an individual. Discussions on how racism could play a major role in aggravating collective trauma have been re-ignited due to the COVID-19. This literature review aims to introduce a different perspective from an Asian-identifying person as part of the minority groups that have been amid racial prejudice and hatred in the United States, what they are experiencing during this time, and how the pandemic impacts their mental health. By analyzing existing …

A Place To Keep The Chaos: Using Expressive Arts To Mitigate Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder In Disaster Recovery, Julie Grebenau

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

In this capstone thesis, the author reviews current holistic research and methods around treating and understanding post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), using expressive arts therapy (ExAT) as a framework. The nature of a natural disaster is complex, in that it is both a process and an event. With ExAT’s emphasis on process, it is an appropriate approach to trauma as a result of natural disasters. The population focus is on earthquake survivors, specific to their early recovery, including traumatic stress and PTSD related to the event. I then apply research based on trauma and expressive arts therapy to this population, concluding …

Exploring The Therapeutic Relationship As A Central Focus Through Expressive Arts Therapy In Oncology, Akshata Parekh

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The treatment for cancer can be physically, mentally, emotionally and socially challenging. These treatments have side effects like physical body pain, hair loss, changes in weight, energy, nausea and more. These physical changes impact the social, mental and emotional well-being of the patient and makes this journey of the life-threating prognosis of cancer very tough to confront. Expressive arts therapy provides a safe space for the patients to address their mental health concerns as a result of this treatment. The Capstone Thesis Project explored expressive arts therapy interventions with 95 patients through single or multiple sessions while going through their …

Positive Self Imagery Collage: An Expressive Arts Therapy Intervention Developed For Adolescents In A Virtual Partial Hospitalization Program, Mackenzie Lee

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis describes an intervention for adolescents in a virtual, group-based partial hospitalization program (PHP). Research in various effective therapeutic methods including supportive music and imagery (SMI), trauma-informed art therapy with adolescents, strength-based psychology, and digital artmaking informed my intervention, “Positive Self Imagery Collage” (PSIC). Group members created virtual collages representative of a SMI experience designed to imagine oneself “trying on” positive traits. PSIC was implemented in a virtual PHP via Zoom for adolescents. The intervention was documented through personal journaling and virtual artmaking. PSIC took place multiple times between January and March 2021, each time with a new set …

Exploring Art Therapy With Clients Suffering From Eating Disorders In An Out-Patient Setting, Miranda Hays

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

To date no peer reviewed literature has been published using art therapy for the treatment of clients with eating disorders (EDs) in an outpatient treatment setting. Despite evidence-based treatment methods being used to help treat clients with EDs high rates of morality and relapse persist for clients with EDs (Belak, 2017, p.1). There is a need for creative approaches to ED treatment that can be used to enhance existing evidence-based treatment models. Art Therapy can provide clients with EDs the opportunity to engage in the creative process which allows them to momentarily lessen their defense mechanisms and explore their ED …

Considerations And Reflections On Being A Brazilian - Latina Expressive Arts Therapist Working In Usa, Maiara Bastos

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper focuses on the experience of being a Latina expressive arts therapist working in the United States of America (USA). Through literature review and a personal art-based research process, the definitions of identities, therapeutic relationships, and microaggression are discussed and explored. This paper is theoretically grounded in the notion of expressive arts therapy and gestalt therapy as a means to understand the author’s experiences in the field of counseling. Autoethnography and art-based inquiry are used to conceptualize microaggressions within the therapeutic relationship.

With the intent of increasing awareness about the author’s identities, the expressive arts were used to make …

Performance Art Therapy: Integrating Performance Art Into Expressive Arts Therapy, A Literature Review, Brittany Purrington

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper considers how expressive arts therapy could incorporate performance art into a clinical setting. Using literature on both topics, commonalities and differences were assessed to determine whether performance art could be used as a healing method and which theories of expressive arts therapy were most aligned for that process. The literature review begins by defining expressive arts therapy and performance art, and then examining research where performance has been used as a healing technique, such as in drama therapy. Drawing on the author’s own experience with performance art and on the theory of poiesis, a silhouette of a design …

Beyond The Dominant Paradigm: Integrating Expressive Arts Therapy And Narrative Therapy To Best Serve The Needs Of Trans And Gender Non-Conforming People: A Literature Review, Ej Huston

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

In this paper, I reviewed the past, present, and what I argue is the best possible future for clinical practice with TGNC clients. I began with an overview of the broad approaches to deviance from the norm in the field of mental healthcare: starting with approaching trans people with a pathologizing model; continuing on to a cultural competence model, which was an improvement but did not ultimately challenge the larger colonial framework that led to the pathologization in the first place; and ended with the humanity-affirming paradigms of decolonization and cultural humility.

The literature review was concerned with narrative therapy …

Somatic Experiencing And Expressive Arts Therapy To Support Autonomic Regulation In Trauma Treatment With Adults: A Literature Review, Daniel J. Patrick

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Autonomic nervous system dysregulation is commonly experienced in adults who have experienced trauma and underlies several symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Though established treatments for PTSD have a strong evidence base, they can increase dysregulation during treatment, leading to high drop-out rates. Somatic experiencing (SE) and expressive arts therapy (ExAT) are two emerging methods that support autonomic regulation in trauma treatment. This literature review provides an overview of the use of SE and ExAT in trauma treatment with adults and describes concepts and techniques from SE and ExAT that are used to support regulation during treatment. Several shared concepts …

The Role Of Community In Meaning Making: Storytelling In Expressive Arts Therapy With Narrative And Traumatic Memory In Domestic Violence And Sexual Assault, Jennifer Murphy

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review examines the concept of body as home in terms of privilege versus human right. This thesis is a literature review examining the repercussions of the traumatized mind, body, nervous system, memory, and soul. This thesis discusses the literature in five sections, and through them, the urgency of community, of healing relationally is strengthened and suggested for future research and treatment interventions. This capstone thesis discusses the relationship between narrative and traumatic memory in expressive arts therapy and the role of storytelling in making meaning relationally. Meaning-making reorients us to our traumatic memories to reframe them in a …

“Inside Out”: Using Expressive Arts Therapy To Externalize Implicit Feelings In A Chinese Origin Client With Psychosomatic Issues, Yun Hong

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Due to the discouragement to express emotion excessively in Chinese culture, Chinese people may be more inclined to show unexpressed emotions through alternative ways, such as physical symptoms, which may lead to some psychosomatic issues. Expressive arts therapy has its advantage in facilitating non-verbal expressions. But can this western approach work for Chinese population that holds different views on the relationship between physical and psychological aspects? This study explored the use of expressive art therapy to help clients with psychosomatic issues from Chinese backgrounds. The method included development of a method inspired by Focusing-oriented art therapy for a client with …

How Nature Calls In A More Secure Sense Of Self In The Face Of Perfectionism: An Expressive Arts Therapy Journey To Self-Identity, Marissa Aldieri

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explores the relational dimensions of perfectionism, expressive arts therapy (ExAT), and the more-than-human natural world as these components influence the development and maintenance of the “sense of self.” This term refers to a perception of the “self” as a set of traits and beliefs that shape an individual’s perceived purpose in the world, often heavily influenced by external societal pressures at a young age. “I’m not good enough” often rings in the ears of educators, parents, coaches, expressive arts therapists, and other mental health workers as the fear of vulnerability, judgment, and failure inhibits creative impulse and intuitive …

Shape-Shifting Anew: A Covid-19 Come-Unity Engagement Project Co-Created By An International Student Collective, Kaeleigh De Silva

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

COVID-19’s looming hold over the global landscape compounds already established stressors facing international students studying in the U.S. Now, more than ever, there needs to be intentional and innovative research approaches to meet the growing needs of this overlooked population. Thus, a virtual expressive arts-based performative inquiry of reciprocity and collaboration was developed to support international students in the midst of the pandemic. This arts-based participatory action research was built in three stages: phase one consisted of a devising process where international students could build a performance collectively, phase two invited members of the wider expressive therapies study body to …

How The Expressive Therapies Continuum Informs Intermodal Transfers, Erin M.L. Little

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Expressive arts therapy (ExAT) is a therapeutic approach that incorporates visual art, music, drama, and dance/movement into the counseling environment. An essential element in ExAT practice is the intermodal transfer, an intentional shift between arts modalities to enhance clients’ understanding and realization. Currently, no theoretical guidelines for intermodal transfers exist in the field of ExAT. In search of a theoretical structure, the author of this Capstone Thesis proposed that the Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC) informed intermodal transfers. Predominantly presented as an art therapy approach, the ETC originally intended to include all expressive therapies. Yet, there is minimal recent literature that …

Fostering Attachment In Romantic Relationships Through Creative Art Therapies, Mary Hachey

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Attachment theory examines the infant/caregiver’s relationship by the attachment style they develop in the first years of life. Over time, these same attachment styles affect adult romantic relationships. Bowlby defines four infant/children attachment styles as securely attached, anxious-ambivalent-insecurely attached, avoidant-insecurely attached, and disorganized-disoriented-insecurely attached. These four styles transferred into three main types for adults: secure, anxious-ambivalent, and avoidant. A couple’s relationship can become affected by personal values, behaviors, environmental situations, attachment styles, and beyond. This literature review discusses how couples behave, relate, and interact with one another based on their attachment styles and it also gives critical details on how …

Storytelling As An Expressive Arts Therapy Intervention With Children Via Telehealth, Sidney Marie Joines

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

As an expressive arts therapist in training working in the midst of a global pandemic, I sought to develop a creative, safe, accessible, and effective intervention for children via telehealth during a time of great uncertainty. Coronavirus 2019 has had a massive impact on mental and physical health and disrupted the lives of billions across the globe; the pandemic also forced mental health professionals to online formats. I found a significant lack of literature around expressive arts therapy via telehealth. Through considering theoretical approaches from cinematherapy, narrative therapy, metaphor therapy, play therapy, and expressive arts therapy, I developed an eight-week …

Group Curriculum Combining Expressive Arts Therapy & Rainbowdance: A Literature Review, Holly Olson

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis presents a 10-week curriculum for a short-term expressive arts therapy group for children ages 6-7 (grades 1 & 2). The curriculum is unique in that it combines the dance/movement therapy program of Rainbowdance with expressive arts therapy. The targeted population sub-group for this proposed curriculum is children whose caregivers, teachers, or guidance counselors have expressed concerns about isolation and/or a lack of social skills. The purpose of this proposed curriculum is to develop the social skills essential for making friends and building relationships. More specifically, group members will gain skills in building a sense of community, sharing, taking …