| Abstract [eng] |
The purpose of the research: To investigate the experience of sadness in the Art therapy process of depressed adults Research tasks: 1. To investigate the experience of the feeling of sadness of adults with depression in the process of Art therapy by applying thematic analysis. 2. To analyze the works of the research participants by applying content analysis. 3. To link the results of thematic and content analysis. 4. To determine the effectiveness of the experience of Art therapy for the daily functioning of adults suffering from depression. Research methods. This study was conducted in the Department of Depression Treatment, Marios Sector, Psychiatry Clinic, Kaunas Hospital, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. A total of 9 patients (n = 9) agreed to participate in this study with written consent. During this period of the Art Therapy program, the Biopsychosocial model was applied to these patients in the Psychiatry Clinic: Pharmacotherapy (Medications), Psychotherapy and other therapies (Music, Dance therapy), Social support, Relaxation measures, so this could have influenced the results of this Art Therapy study. This research was conducted using mixed, qualitative and quantitative research methods. Conclusions. After analyzing the research participants' experience of sadness in the Art Therapy process, six different themes were revealed. The first, largest group consisted of the topic "Suppressed emotions as a hidden inner message", the second group consisted of the topic "Feeling of sadness in the course of the Art Therapy program was changing". The first, biggest theme revealed that the feeling of sadness can be related to not expressing it and suppressing it in the inner world, deeper reasons of its appearance and better self-knowledge, as patient Gustė wrote in her diary notes: "The more I learned about myself, the more I understood why I feel as I did then, the more my sadness lessened." The results of the second theme revealed that the feeling of sadness of almost all study participants decreased during the course of the Art Therapy program, but for one patient, the feeling of sadness did not change during the entire period of the Art Therapy program. The results of the analysis of the research participants' experience of sadness in the Art Therapy process reveal that Art Therapy can be a sufficiently effective tool to reduce the feeling of sadness, as well as to better know it, understand the reasons for its occurrence, express it, and also reveal the connections of this feeling with other feelings. The analysis of the Art Therapy process works of the participants presented this Master's Thesis research reveals seven groups of elements of visual expression that are repeated according to the frequency, from the largest to the smallest. The largest group consisted of drawings in which emptiness predominates and implies a feeling of emptiness. This emptiness may reflect suppressed emotions and less awareness of them. After the connection between the content and thematic analysis, the representation of emptiness is revealed as the largest group of Art Therapy process works of the study participants. This representation relates to the repressed emotions described in the patients' diary entries as a hidden internal message of these emotions. These results of the interface of content and thematic analysis reveal that, although the feeling of sadness is defined as the main symptom of the depressive syndrome, the depiction of emptiness, which is associated with suppressed emotions as a hidden inner message of these emotions, is revealed as the largest research group of this Master's Thesis. The results of the assessment of the daily functioning of the study participants reveal an increase in the average score of this questionnaire from the first Art Therapy session to the last, eighth session. |
