Philippine E-Journals

Art Therapy: An Aid to Reduce Depression

Reana Tuazon

Discipline: Education

 

Abstract:

This study evaluates the influence of using art as a medium to express emotions of selected students of BulSU-Bustos Campus. The researcher used a mixed-method research design. Thus, it utilized the questionnaire of Beck's Depression Inventory. This questionnaire enables the researchers to identify who has the tendency or suffering from depression. The students who have the results of moderate depression, severe depression, and extreme depression were invited to join the six (6) art therapy sessions. There were only ten willing participants who joined the session. The 10 participants met for six different art therapy sessions. Each participant was given pre and post-evaluation questionnaires to determine the effectiveness of the art therapy counseling sessions. A mixture of art-making and psychotherapy was used with each participant to evaluate the sessions. Every session has a questionnaire to determine the level of agreement on using the materials to express emotions. Moreover, the statistical analysis results indicated a significant difference between the students' evaluations before and after the intervention (p=0.00). Hence, it implies that the intervention used in Art Therapy is found to be an effective tool for expressing emotions.