Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Caring For Former Caretakers: Utilizing Collage To Explore Transition, Development Of A Method, Noelle Leblanc

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Older adulthood often comes with a variety of challenges both emotional and physical. The transition to an assisted living program can be challenging to cope with. Older adults may face isolation and loneliness, while grappling with changes in their identity as result of factors like decline in health, loss of an ability, or changes in social support. Arts based interventions were administered individually among a group of older adults to test if collage could be utilized to explore themes of role shift, transition and identity. Clinical observations along with post-session reflective artwork is included. Assisted living residents participated in a …

Talk Box In Music Therapy With Speech And Language Impairments Resulting From Tracheostomy: A Critical Review Of The Literature, Jonathan Kang

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Tracheostomy patients struggle with one of the most significant and essential components to the human identity, that is, communication. When a person’s communication is obstructed, access to their intangible, inner world is also severed – leaving their thoughts, feelings, and memories, all of which are core to the human experience, unshared. Speech assistance for tracheostomy patients currently includes above cuff vocalization efforts using one-way speaking valves, augmentative and alternative communication methods such as speech generating devices and the electrolarynx. This thesis will introduce and discuss a musical instrument effect called the talk box as an integration of music therapy techniques …

Covid, Creativity, And Connecting Through Change: Reviewing The Literature On How Art Therapy Can Help Children And Adolescents Cope With Pandemic-Related Grief, Lydia Speicher

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most significant global events in the past century, both resulting in massive casualties and significant mental health outcomes across the world. Some of the most impacted populations are children and adolescents whose lives have been interrupted during their formative years. The purpose of this literature review is to explore how art therapy has been used during the COVID-19 pandemic to address the grief experienced by children and adolescents through their losses of stability and peer support surrounded by uncertainty. This literature review seeks to understand exactly how the pandemic has affected the …

Group Singing And Songwriting For Emotion Regulation: Development Of A Dialectical Behavior Therapy-Informed Music Therapy Method For Adults In Crisis Residential Treatment, Angelica Rodriguez

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Emotion regulation, the ability to acknowledge, name, and shift emotions, is an important skill in effectively interacting with the world. However, many people with mental health diagnoses struggle with emotion dysregulation. Music therapy has been explored in combination with Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills training to support clients in building emotion regulation skills. The current study explored how music therapy can positively add to DBT skills training, specifically emotion regulation, for adult clients with mental health diagnoses in short-term residential treatment. Four DBT-informed music therapy groups were conducted, and the researcher’s experiences and reflections were analyzed to produce five main themes: …

Exploring Role Method As An Identity Building Tool With Adolescent Adoptees: Development Of A Method, Rebecca Elowe

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The developmental task for adolescents concerns identity formation. Adoption literature indicates that for adolescent adoptees, the task of identity formation is often complex. As compared to their non-adopted peers, adolescent adoptees must contemplate their identity with informational factors and with potential gaps in their life stories. Though it is acknowledged in the literature that identity formation for adolescent adoptees is complex, and that adolescent adoptees seek mental health services in high percentages, little formal research has been conducted to investigate the usefulness of drama therapy in the treatment of adolescent adoptees, or the adoptee population overall. In response to a …

Developmental Transformations With Refugee Children: Exploring Different Cultural Responses To Traumatic Experience, Katrina L. Sanyal

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explored working with refugee children resettled in the US, and how Developmental Transformations (DvT) can support different cultural interpretations and experiences of trauma, particularly when the drama therapist and the client come from different cultural viewpoints. Situated within an after school program, this research includes results from 5 individual, trauma-centered, short-form DvT sessions conducted with refugee children ages 8-15. Dramatic images, traumatic responses, and observations were documented for each play session. To synthesize the experience, the drama therapist reflected on the process through their own DvT play sessions, which are presented as stories via an arts based process. …

How Art Therapy Can Help Survivors Of Trauma Access An Embodied Sense Of Safety: A Literature Review ศิลปะบำบัดสามารถช่วยให้ผู้รอดชีวิตจากการบาดเจ็บทางจิตใจได้เข้าถึง ความรู้สึกปลอดภัยภายในตัวตนได้อย่างไร: การทบทวนวรรณกรรม, Catherine L. Ripley

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Traumatic stress can disrupt systemic rhythms in the brain and body that enable a person to feel safe in the world. Therefore, the initial phase of trauma treatment must focus on establishing an embodied sense of safety. This literature review examined cross-disciplinary data to assess whether art therapy can help trauma survivors access an embodied sense of safety, and if so, what therapeutic mechanisms contribute to its effectiveness. The data indicated that trauma-informed art therapy can support an embodied sense of safety through activating key therapeutic factors that downregulate instinctual defense mechanisms which can occur as a result of traumatic …

The Breath As A Holistic Regulator: An Expressive Arts Therapy Community Project, Jacobita Munoz

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This capstone offers the idea that evolution has challenged appropriate breathing and led humans to breathe incorrectly, thus negatively affecting their physical and mental health. As breath can damage the body, it can also serve as a regulator of the mind and body. This thesis points out the multiple effects when uniting controlled respiration, drumming and nature sounds. Breathing, music and nature have many things in common. These include repetition, pattern, awareness of the present moment and relaxation. They all contain a rhythm, and they offer self-regulatory skills. Music-based expressive arts therapies intervention is postulated to provide breathing techniques, united …

Working With What You Have: A Literature Review Of The Culture And Accessibility Of Mental Health Therapy In Rural Communities, Paige Tiefenthaler

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explores the existing literature on the culture, values, ideals, and challenges experienced in rural areas. The influence of social and physical barriers on rural life is examined with emphasis placed on evaluating the cultural effects of isolation, the dependency on a community, and local pride and reputation. The existence of mental health therapy resources within these areas is examined to understand why rural residents struggle to receive care and how cultural factors influence help-seeking behaviors. Further research explains the therapeutic interventions that are commonly found within these areas, their benefits, and their challenges. Potential mental health therapy interventions …

Expressing Emotional Catharsis And Professional Identity Formation Through The Medium Of Metal Music: Development Of A Heuristic-Informed Music Therapy Method, Steven Otto

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Metal music has been a taboo music genre for years, with some claiming that listening to the music can lead its listeners towards anti-social behavior, violence, and anger. However, more research has determined that metal music is beneficial for the mental health of its fans. Metal fans have used their favorite music to cope with their angry or sad emotions, gain a better understanding of their emotions, explore their personal identity, and find a community for support and advocacy. Although research has expanded on the mental health benefits of metal music, there has been little research on the music’s effectiveness …

A Role-Based Integrative Community Engagement Model: Drama Therapy With Survivors (Option 3), Jodi Kanter

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Abstract

Trauma survivors have, by definition, undergone a change to their bodies and therefore, necessarily, a change in their role repertoire. This paper describes the development of a 6-session drama therapy community engagement model for self-identified survivors. The model is structured around the categories of Robert Landy’s Role Profiles assessment and integrates a range of role-based methods. The paper begins with a review of the literature on drama therapy theory and practice involving roles. It briefly considers two debates in the field: one involving the difference between therapy and the therapeutic, the other concerning the use of distancing techniques (such …

What Drama Therapy Core Processes Can Be Observed In A Timeslips Session With Residents In Dementia Care Units?, Saverina Scopelleti

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Despite the arrival of the person-centered movement in dementia care, biases continue in caregiving around ageism, cognitive disability, and pharmacological interventions to mitigate behavior issues. This paper underscores the efficacy of drama therapy as a non-pharmacological intervention in dementia care practices, directing focus on drama therapy core processes and how to utilize them to meaningfully engage with persons with dementia. In this phenomenological study, run over a four week period, I facilitated group interventions using TimeSlips with residents from two memory care units at separate assisted living facilities in New England. TimeSlips is an established program, specifically created for persons …

Prescribing Music To Forensic Settings: A Literature Review, Sydney A. Bouchard

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Though prison is inherently musical, evidence-based forensic music therapy is rather understudied. This thesis critically reviews musical experiences in forensic environments and synthesizes its intersection with inmates' psychological distress. Additionally, the literature explores how forensic music therapy can act as a health and social resource for the incarcerated and their communities. Engaging in this work is vital because healthier correctional systems mean healthier communities (Hopwood, 2021). This review synthesizes relevant literature to inform better practices in music therapy, counseling, and healthcare and seeks to popularize discussion around an otherwise unpopular population, incarcerated folx. Emerging themes include (1) incarceration breeds negative …

“Staged Combat”: A Literature Review On The Potential Advantages Of Drama Therapy Over Traditional Talk Therapy With Veterans, Christopher Mcneill

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

There is an ongoing disconnect between military veterans and mental health with a vast majority of veterans either unable or unwilling to seek therapy. This may be a result of traditional talk therapy being ineffective with the veteran population; drama therapy may be a recourse that can better bridge the gap between veterans and therapy. Veterans experience trauma not just through means of combat overseas, but via training and transitioning out of the military as well, all culminating in a psychological regression. With the given population, emerging adulthood would be the period that veterans regress to as it is when …

How Art Therapy Can Be Used To Teach Queer Inclusive Sex Education To Queer Youth: A Literature Review, Olivia Souza

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review examines the potential of art-making as a tool to educate and inform queer youth about queer sexual experiences. Many queer individuals lack information about safe and healthy sex due to the exclusion of queer experiences in sex education programs. Current sex programs solely focus on abstinence and heterosexual experiences, leaving queer youth in the dark about what to expect from future sexual experiences they may have and how to practice safe queer sex. Through a search of the literature, it was discovered that there is a gap in research using art therapy in this specific context. Through …

Can Psycho-Social Benefits Be Observed In Those With Intellectual Disabilities During Dmt?, Hannah Johnson

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Often training and learning opportunities ignore the unique needs of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Helping this population cope with problems that will occur in their lives could increase their feelings of well-being and might decrease feelings of isolation. This workshop used the techniques from Mary Starks Whitehouse’s practice of Authentic Movement (Whitehouse et al., 1999) to support paticipants’ emotional self regulation during training for a new job at an apple orchard. The use of Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) as an intervention for individuals with intellectual disabilities could increase coping skills, which could create greater opportunities for them to increase their …

Playing With Policy: What Insights Arise From Transgender Adults After Participating In A Legislative Theatre Exercise, Skylar A. Stratemeyer

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The transgender community is underrepresented in the current body of academic research, underserved in the current clinical model of healthcare services, and legislatively oppressed on a state and federal level in the United States. As of March 2023, more than 400 anti-LGBTQI laws have been introduced on a state level in 2023 alone (ACLU, 2023). In response to the hostile Western sociopolitical climate, this thesis will focus on what insights arise from transgender adults and cisgender allies (N = 12) after participating in a dramatherapeutic group therapy session that explored current anti-trans legislation and highlighted the legal needs of …

Connecting With Our Roles Through Post Traumatic Growth After Experiencing Medical Trauma, Marie Angier

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper explores the combination of drama therapist, Robert Landy’s (1993), Role Theory and the psychological concept of Post Traumatic Growth (Tedeschi, 2018). The author created a protocol that involved psychoeducation surrounding the five domains of Post Traumatic Growth and a role card sort involving the drama therapeutic process of role theory. A young adult client experiencing significant medical trauma participated in these processes during a three session intervention. Results indicated that the client viewed negative experiences as potentials for growth toward furthered resilience and future hope and optimism. The sample size was limited to one person and further search …

Fiber Art Circles, Belonging, And Mental Health In The Queer Community: A Community Arts Based Project, Sage Hess

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explores the role of community and chosen family for queer belonging. The queer community is in a mental health crisis, with substance abuse, high suicide rates, anxiety, depression, personality disorders, and complex post-traumatic stress disorders being pervasive in the community. Current therapeutic services and medical services often enact more harm than good and that mutual aid and chosen family has been a cornerstone to support chronic illnesses. To better understand these complexities, a community arts project was held to explore how it might support these theories. This research was facilitated at a local queer owned Boston fiber shop. …

Culturally Centered Eco-Art Therapy Practice For Self-Awareness: Development Of A Method, Venita Figueroa

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Research shows an overwhelming need for holistic mental health care in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. Its “wide-ranging social, psychological, and economic impact” further exasperates symptoms of psychological and developmental distress (Kopytin, 2021, p. 35). Contemporary art therapy literature highlights how art therapy with natural materials (eco art therapy) cultivates human resilience, as well a great source of healing and has made a resurgence since the pandemic (Kopytin, 2021). An ecological art therapy (EaT) method was developed to address the pervasive issue of disconnection and difficulties with self-awareness. This method utilized natural materials with special attention to culturally competent …

Art Therapy And Chronic Pain: Exploring Pain Tolerance, Body Sensations And Emotions, India Brown

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Over four weeks, topics of emotion, physical and body sensation, and chronic pain using art therapy were explored. The therapy provided a foundation for practicing mindfulness, increasing awareness, and expressing various symptoms such as somatic discomfort and emotional dysregulation. I co-facilitated a group consisting of individuals between the ages of 23 and 70 identifying as male or female, with a mix of white and black clients from the middle-class bracket. The group participated in art therapy and mindful meditation sessions in an outpatient program. Through this experience, I discovered that many individuals dissociate from their pain and emotional well-being. While …

The Phenomenon Of Dissociation With The Application Of Expressive Arts Therapy: A Literature Review, Katherine Alexander

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

As a symptom of pathological disorder, dissociation is commonly seen as detrimental; yet dissociation is also frequently referenced as a typical occurrence for most people on a regular basis. This paper aimed to investigate and clarify definitions of dissociation as a phenomenon in mental health counseling treatment, and to examine the application of the modality of expressive arts therapy where dissociation is present. Dissociation was found to be widely regarded as a spectrum of phenomena within the subjective experiences of an individual, ranging from average to debilitating in severity. Research and expressive arts therapies were found to reflect theory informing …

Applying Self Care Methods: Burnout Prevention For An Art Therapist In Training, Hannah Marshall

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper explores the literature and the relationship between burnout and self care. Though a range of resources are investigated, the primary focus is on mental health clinical intern graduate students. Specifically, using a burnout tracker and self reflective data, I examine my own relationship to burnout and self care as a clinical intern while sustaining a full time job and final semester graduate level coursework. Using an individualized method of data collection and analysis, I can understand my own relationship to self care and burnout. This journey of both self discovery and evidence based research provides insight into burnout …

Art Therapy And Parts Work In The Treatment Of Complex Trauma: A Literature Review, Amy Patel

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

In recent decades, there has been an ever-expanding interest in addressing the effects of trauma. Additionally, more attention is being focused on the insidious and compounding effects of complex trauma. Within the context of this increased spotlight, a range of therapies have been born to address these effects. Art therapy is one example of a modality that uses art materials to externalize. Parts work is a group of theories that addresses the intrapsychic relationships that govern our thoughts, feelings, sensations and actions. Two parts work theories, structural dissociation and internal family systems, are explored in this thesis. This literature review …

Connecting Creativity, Bipolar Spectrum Disorder And Art Therapy, Shelby De Luna, Shelby Carmen De Luna

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This critical literature review investigates the potential connection of creative intellect with individuals suffering from symptomology associated with Bipolar Affective Disorder and related disorders (formerly known as manic-depressive disorder or affective psychosis described in the 19th century). The definition of creativity is encompassed and the manifestation of the diagnostic aspects in bipolar psychopathology is evaluated in this literature review. The cathartic benefits of art therapy (AT) are examined and processed amongst those diagnosed with this mental health disability of BAD. This review addresses the characteristics of mood disorders having comparative artistic attributes that are also seen in an artist’s innovative …

Post Covid-19 Self-Care Of The Therapist: A Community Project, Alexandra Graf

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The continuous COVID-19 pandemic has brought new expectations and higher demand in the field of mental health counseling. Many individuals began seeking therapy during this time which is a good thing however, the therapists are facing a higher risk of burnout syndrome and compassion fatigue. Therapists have not shifted their focus as much on themselves through acts of self-care during this time despite the world around them shifting. In graduate counseling programs there is discussion and perhaps a dedicated week of course material to self-care however, it is not taught the importance to implement and discover what acts of care …

Enacting Stories: Discovering Parallels Of Narrative And Expressive Therapies, A Literature Review, Zoe Reddig

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review will analyze the use of narrative therapy (NT) techniques, dance/movement therapy (DMT) techniques, and expressive therapy (ET) techniques in an effort to distinguish where theoretical parallels exist between these methods of counsel. Narrative therapy is a postmodern framework of counseling that assists clients in resisting damaging stories that have been embedded through bioecological systems of exposure throughout development. Narrative therapy structures its philosophy through processes of externalization and deconstruction, and encourages the process of reframing or re-authoring one’s personal self-narrative. At their core, DMT and ET already utilize components of foundational NT practices, through processes of enactment, …

How Drama Therapy Interventions May Enhance The Psychological Health Of Astronauts: A Literature Review, Mackenna Wysocki

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Astronauts may encounter a number of psychological challenges throughout their space missions. Crew members often suffer from a disrupted circadian rhythm, thus altering their sleep patterns. Prolonged disrupted sleep has been linked to a decline in executive functioning, concentration, and decision making, all of which are crucial to the duties of an astronaut. Additionally, crews are required to stay in cramped living quarters with the same group of people for an extended period of time, leading to an increased possibility of interpersonal conflict. There are no open spaces in which to escape when trying to decompress, there is limited contact …

Art Therapy As A Tool For Korean American Families: A Literature Review, Minju Park

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review aims to offer a comprehensive overview of attributes of Korean culture that make significant impacts on the family dynamic in the Korean immigrant households and to learn different types of art therapy that can help them. This literature review identifies specifically the struggles both first-generation Korean immigrant parents and second-generation Korean-American adolescents experience in order to understand where their conflicts come from. Later, different approaches of art therapy for the conflicts Korean immigrant households face are discussed. Data are collected from existing literature and videos by terms including art therapy for immigrants, family art therapy, Korean immigrant …

Applying Self Care Methods: Burnout Prevention For An Art Therapist In Training, Hannah Marshall

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper explores the literature and the relationship between burnout and self care. Though a range of resources are investigated, the primary focus is on mental health clinical intern graduate students. Specifically, using a burnout tracker and self reflective data, I examine my own relationship to burnout and self care as a clinical intern while sustaining a full time job and final semester graduate level coursework. Using an individualized method of data collection and analysis, I can understand my own relationship to self care and burnout. This journey of both self discovery and evidence based research provides insight into burnout …