Women with breast cancer are naturally exposed to strain related to diagnosis and treatment, and this influences their experienced quality of life (QoL). The present paper reports the effect, with regard to QoL aspects, of an art therapy intervention among 41 women undergoing radiotherapy treatment for breast cancer. The women were randomized to an intervention group with individual art therapy sessions for 1 h/week (n = 20), or to a control group (n = 21). The WHOQOL-BREF and EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire-BR23, were used for QoL assessment, and administrated on three measurement occasions, before the start of radiotherapy and 2 and 6 months later. The results indicate an overall improvement in QoL aspects among women in the intervention group. A significant increase in total health, total QoL, physical health and psychological health was observed in the art therapy group. A significant positive difference within the art therapy group was also seen, concerning future perspectives, body image and systemic therapy side effects. The present study provides strong support for the use of art therapy to improve QoL for women undergoing radiotherapy treatment for breast cancer.
This study shows that individual art therapy provided by a trained art therapist in a clinical setting can give beneficial support to women with primary breast cancer undergoing radiotherapy, as it can improve their coping resources.
The primary aim of this randomized controlled clinical trial was to compare the outcome from two types of short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy. The participants were thirtynine women with depression. Half of the participants (n518) received art psychotherapy and the other half received verbal psychotherapy (n521). Data was collected before and after psychotherapy, and at a 3-month follow-up using self-rating scales and interviewer-based ratings. Results showed that art and verbal psychotherapies were comparable, and at follow-up, the average participant in both groups had few depressive symptoms and stress-related symptoms. The conclusion was that short-term psychodynamic art therapy could be a valuable treatment for depressed women.Depressive disorders account for more than 11% of the total number of years lived with disability in the world (Ü stün et al. 2004). During recent decades, a growing proportion of Swedish adults experience depressive symptoms, anxiety, elevated stress, and interpersonal problems.Many studies have shown that there are clear gender differences in prevalence as well as frequency and intensity of depression (Nolen-Hoeksema et al. 1999). Factors associated with depression, which are more likely to affect women than men, are low social status, and learned helplessness, generated by a lack of control over their life. A related factor is that the traditional work of women -rearing children and doing housework -often goes unrecognized (Jack 1991).A fourth significant factor is how depressed people manage their symptoms. Studies have shown that women tend to ruminate over their problem to a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy ISSN 0266-8734 print/ISSN 1474-9734 online # 2007 The Association for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the NHS
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