The Effects of Adding Art Therapy to Ongoing Antidepressant Treatment in Moderate-to-Severe Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Study

Myungjoo Lee, Han Choi, Jiwon Shin and Ho-Suk Suh ()
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Myungjoo Lee: Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Cha University, Seongnam 13488, Republic of Korea
Han Choi: Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Cha University, Seongnam 13488, Republic of Korea
Jiwon Shin: Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Cha University, Seongnam 13488, Republic of Korea
Ho-Suk Suh: Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Cha University, Seongnam 13488, Republic of Korea

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 20, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: This randomized controlled study aimed to investigate the effects of art psychotherapy on moderate-to-severe major depressive disorder (MDD). Forty-two MDD patients were recruited from a psychiatric outpatient clinic in Seoul, the Republic of Korea. Participants were allocated on a randomized, open-label basis to either an experimental group, wherein they were treated with art psychotherapy added to pharmacotherapy, or a control group, wherein they were treated with pharmacotherapy alone. Pre- and post-test measures of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and remission rates were measured. The results indicate that patients treated with art psychotherapy and ongoing pharmacotherapy showed slightly greater improvement when compared with pharmacotherapy alone in moderate-to-severe MDD. These results suggest that art psychotherapy could be an effective add-on strategy for the treatment of moderate-to-severe MDD. However, a rigorous test would facilitate a better understanding of art psychotherapy as an add-on strategy for MDD treatment.

Keywords: depression; major depressive disorder; art psychotherapy; combined therapy; antidepressants (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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