CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 71Art Therapy and Mental HealthPosttraumatic Stress Disorder ResearchPsychotherapy Techniques and Applications

Trauma-Focused Art Therapy in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Pilot Study

Open access
Schouten, Karin Alice, van Hooren, Susan, Knipscheer, Jeroen W., Kleber, Rolf J., Hutschemaekers, Giel J.M.·2019·Journal of Trauma & Dissociation
DOI 10.1080/15299732.2018.1502712
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Research showed that more than 30% of patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) do not benefit from evidence-based treatments: Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). These are patients with prolonged and multiple traumatization, with poor verbal memory, and patients with emotional over-modulation. Retelling traumatic experiences in detail is poorly tolerated by these patients and might be a reason for not starting or not completing the recommended treatments. Due to lack of evidence, no alternative treatments are recommended yet. Art therapy may offer an alternative and suitable treatment, because the nonverbal and experiential character of art therapy appears to be an appropriate approach to the often wordless and visual nature of traumatic memories. The objective of this pilot study was to test the acceptability, feasibility, and applicability of trauma-focused art therapy for adults with PTSD due to multiple and prolonged traumatization (patients with early childhood traumatization and refugees from different cultures). Another objective was to identify the preliminary effectiveness of art therapy. Results showed willingness to participate and adherence to treatment of patients. Therapists considered trauma-focused art therapy feasible and applicable and patients reported beneficial effects, such as more relaxation, externalization of memories and emotions into artwork, less intrusive thoughts of traumatic experiences and more confidence in the future. The preliminary findings on PTSD symptom severity showed a decrease of symptoms in some participants, and an increase of symptoms in other participants. Further research into the effectiveness of art therapy and PTSD is needed.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1080/15299732.2018.1502712

Cites

39 of 40 references verified1 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The empirical base for AVAT's effectiveness is rather fragmented; many (often smaller) studies examined the effect of very specific kinds of AVATs, with a narrow focus on certain conditions.

    “Even though AVAT is a popular treatment method, the empirical base for its effectiveness is rather fragmented; many (often smaller) studies examined the effect of very specific kinds of AVATs, with a narrow focus on certain conditions [2, 7, 55, 56].”

    From The effect of active visual art therapy on health outcomes: protocol of a systematic review of randomised controlled trials (2022) · cites this paper as [56]

    The Abstract says art therapy is often used in PTSD treatment but its effectiveness has not been sufficiently tested. The Method and Limitations describe this study as a small pilot of a specific trauma-focused protocol, restricted to patients with PTSD, specifically refugees and adults with early childhood trauma. That supports an example of the citing sentence’s concern, but the paper does not establish that many AVAT studies are small or that the evidence base across AVAT is fragmented. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Malchiodi, C. A. (2012). Art therapy and the brain. In C. A. Malchiodi (Ed.), Handbook of art therapy (2nd ed., pp. 17-24). New York: Guilford Press.
  2. Schouten, K. A. (2010). Vaktherapie. In J. De Jong & S. Colijn (Eds.), Handboek Culturele Psychiatrie en Psychotherapie [Handbook of cultural psychiatry and psychotherapy]. Utrecht: De Tijdstroom.
  3. Wertheim-Cahen, T., van Dijk, M., Schouten, K., Roozen, I., & Drodek, B. (2004). About a weeping willow, a phoenix rising from its ashes, and building a house. . . art therapy with refugees: Three different perspectives. In J. P. Wilson & B. Drozdek (Eds.), Broken spirits: The treatments of traumatized asylum seekers, refugees, war and torture victims (pp. 419- 442). New York: Brunner-Routledge.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Schouten, K. A., van Hooren, S., Knipscheer, J. W., Kleber, R. J., & Hutschemaekers, G. J. M.
Affiliations
  • Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
  • Research Centre KenVak, Master of Arts Therapies, Open University of the Netherlands and Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, Heerlen, The Netherlands
  • Utrecht University (NL)
Corresponding author
Schouten, Karin Alice
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Trauma & Dissociation
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2018-08-15
Volume
20
Issue
1
Pages
114-130
ISSN
  • 1529-9732 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-9740
DOI
10.1080/15299732.2018.1502712
OpenAlex
W2887034922
Cited by
71
References
40
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3
FWCI
33.08
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
other-oa
Locations
  • Journal of Trauma & Dissociation (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DSpace (Open University in the Netherlands) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
  • Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Arq Psychotrauma Expert Group, Diemen and ProCES, ProPersona, Centre for Education and Science
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Conservation › Art Therapy and Mental Health
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
Keywords
post-traumatic stress disorder, early childhood trauma, refugees, treatment acceptability, treatment feasibility, traumatic memory, nonverbal expression, medication adherence, symptom severity
MeSH terms
Art Therapy, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Netherlands, Pilot Projects, Refugees, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Adult Survivors of Child Abuse

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review