Use The Circular Trajectory Or The Straight Trajectory? A Study On The Differences In The Effects Of Mandala Painting Trajectories On Relieving Depressive Symptoms Through The Shape Of Metaphor Of Two Time Views

Depressive symptom is more prevalent among adolescents and is at increased risk throughout adolescence.Some researchers believe that depression and other psychological disorders are caused by the conflict between the circular time law of the body and the linear time order of modern society.Therefore,it has been suggested that relieving depression requires more emphasis on the rhythm,regularity and repetition of life,which is similar to the idea of cyclic time view;Conversely,a linear view of time,which emphasizes the irreversibility of time and the constant progress of things,may aggravate the feelings of guilt and stagnation in people with depression.In addition to the views of time,mandala painting is also often used to relieving depressive symptoms.A standard mandala in Jung and Arnheim’s discourse would be a combination of a circle pattern and a radial pattern.Such a structure implies that when people paint a standard mandala,they can choose two trajectories,one is the circular trajectory,that is,after painting one circle and then the next circle,The other is the Straight trajectory,which is completed one by one according to the linear structure in the radial structure of the mandala.In the past,when people discussed the concept of time,they always liked to compare the circular view of time to a circle and the linear view of time to a straight line.Although no empirical research has confirmed it,the circle and the straight line may have shape metaphorical relationships with the two views of time.So,will different trajectories in mandala paintings subtly convey different time views and thus have different effects on relieving depressive symptoms? No research has paid attention to it yet.Therefore,this study aims to verify the shape metaphor relationship between circle and cyclic time view,straight line and linear time view through experiments,and further explore the differences in the effects of mandala painting trajectories on relieving depressive symptoms through the shape of metaphor of two time views.Study 1 aims to verify the shape metaphor relationship between circle and the circular view of time,straight line and linear view of time in adolescents,including Study 1a and Study 1b.Study 1a adopted the perceptual matching paradigm and asked200 adolescent subjects to match circular time words,linear time words and neutral words in circles and straight lines according to their own classification criteria.It was found that subjects tended to match circular time words with circles,linear time words with straight lines,and there was no difference in filling in neutral words in the two-shaped boxes.Study 1b adopted the implicit experimental paradigm,requiring 40 subjects to complete the compatible task(circle and cyclic time words & straight line and linear time words)and the incompatible task(circle and linear time words &straight line and cyclic time words).The results showed that the reaction time of the compatible task was significantly smaller than that of the incompatible task.Through Study 1a and Study 1b,it is revealed that in adolescents,there are shape metaphorical relationships between circle and the circular view of time,straight line and the linear view of time.Study 2 aims to explore the differences in the effects of mandala painting trajectories on relieving depressive symptoms through the shape of metaphor of two time views.In the second study,75 adolescents with self-rating depression scale scores higher than the norm were selected.According to the two trajectories of mandala painting,they were divided into circular trajectory group and straight trajectory group,and set up a control group that did not receive any intervention。They filled out the self-rating depression scale(SDS)before and after the experiment。For one month,circular trajectory group and straight trajectory group painted mandalas twice a week,each time painted at least one standard mandala template.The control group did not participate in the painting task,and only took pre-and post-tests.The results of the study showed that adolescents who painted the standard mandala with a circular trajectory had the best improvement in relieving depressive symptoms,while the improvement in the straight trajectory group was not significantly different from the control group.Conclusion:(1)There is a shape metaphor relationship between circle and the circular view of time,straight line and linear view of time.(2)When using standard mandala to relieving depressive symptoms in adolescents,the improvement effect of circular trajectory is better than that of straight trajectory.