February 28, 2012

expert reaction to study of outcomes of art therapy in schizophrenics

A paper in the BMJ looked at the efficacy of group art therapy for people with schizophrenia.

Dr Victoria Tischler, Chartered Psychologist and Lecturer in Behavioural Sciences, Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham, said:

“I am not surprised by these findings. A number of studies looking at the efficacy of art therapy have found little or no ‘impact’.

“This study looked at clinical benefit and I’d suggest that the lack of impact found may be related to the outcomes investigated.

“The impact of arts interventions are notoriously difficult to ‘measure’ using a quantitative, positivist approach. They are often related to psychosocial benefits e.g. confidence building, improvements in communication, addressing social exclusion through social networking.

“More studies are needed with larger numbers of participants, but examining broader outcomes and utilising a wider range of mixed methods, to measure these.”

‘Group art therapy as an adjunctive treatment for people with schizophrenia: multicentre pragmatic randomised trial’ by Crawford, M.J. et al., published in BMJ on Tuesday 28th February.