Arts for the blues – a new creative psychological therapy for depression

Parsons, AS; Omylinska-Thurston, J; Karkou, V; Harlow, J; Haslam, S; Hobson, J; Nair, K; Dubrow-Marshall, LJ; Thurston, SD; Griffin, J

Abstract

Routinely prescribed psychological therapies for depression are not always effective. Arts therapies, particularly Dance Movement Psychotherapy, may offer additional therapeutic mechanisms for depression. Therefore, client-reported helpful factors from various therapy types, along with client preferences, are key in devising new therapeutic interventions. We present a framework for a new pluralistic “meta-approach” of therapy for depression, based on an interdisciplinary thematic synthesis (Thomas, J., & Harden, A. (2008). Methods for the thematic synthesis of qualitative research in systematic reviews. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 8(1), 45) of active ingredients from both talking therapies and creative approaches. Lastly, we offer an example group therapy workshop based on this approach, to be piloted with clients and practitioners within an NHS mental health service. Further research is required to evaluate this pilot and to devise a full treatment for trialling within the service.

Citation

Parsons, A., Omylinska-Thurston, J., Karkou, V., Harlow, J., Haslam, S., Hobson, J., …Griffin, J. (2020). Arts for the blues – a new creative psychological therapy for depression. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 48(1), 5-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2019.1633459

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 13, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jul 9, 2019
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Sep 2, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 9, 2020
• Journal: British Journal of Guidance & Counselling
• Print ISSN: 0306-9885
• Publisher: Routledge
• Volume: 48
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 5-20
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2019.1633459
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2019.1633459
• Related Public URLs: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cbjg20/current