Efficacy of Group Art Therapy on Depressive Symptoms in Adult Heterogeneous Psychiatric Outpatients

This study evaluated the potential benefit of weekly group art therapy in groups of adult psychiatric outpatients at a university medical center. Eighteen patients participated in 4 successive 8-week groups of 6 to 8 patients each that met weekly and were led by 2 therapists (a board-certified art therapist and a psychiatry resident). The standardized Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was administered pre- and post-treatment. Ten patients who attended 4 or more sessions of group art therapy were included in the study. The mean group CES-D scores for the study patients decreased significantly from pre- to post-treatment. This is the first pilot study report of the efficacy of group art therapy using a standardized depressive measure in heterogeneous adult psychiatric outpatients.