Visual arts in counselling adults with depressive disorders

Khai, Ling Lee and Mustaffa, Mohamed Sharif and Tan, S.Y. (2017) Visual arts in counselling adults with depressive disorders. British Journal Of Guidance & Counselling, 45 (1). pp. 56-71. ISSN 1469-3534

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Abstract

This study provides a better understanding of using visual arts in counselling adults with depressive disorders. Three in-depthcase studieswere conducted in the counselling unit of amentalhealth hospital inMalaysia. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were applied to explore three adult participants’ counselling experiences. They attended six individual counselling sessions, which included four art-making activities, and two after-session interviews, for approximately two months. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. The findings showed that through the therapeutic use of visual arts, the participants were able to explore and express various emotions, face their problems, communicate better with themselves and the counsellor, achieve a deeper self-understanding, and make meaningful progress in counselling, even though some of them experienced a sense of uncertainty at the beginning of some art-making activities.

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