| Empirical studies examining the use of drawing as an intervention or adjunct to psychotherapy are scarce, but essential in supporting the use of art as a tool in therapy, a common clinical practice. Based on empirical research (Freudenheim & Russ, 1999a; Greco-Vigorito, Drucker, Moore-Russell, & Noia, 1998; Gross & Hayne, 1998; Gross & Hayne, 1999), and theory, drawing should facilitate verbalization and expression of feelings because drawing is a natural cathartic expressive medium that stimulates affective processes.; The present study investigated the effect of children's drawing on: (1) mood, (2) verbalization of information, (3) verbalization of feelings, and (4) verbal organization. Participants were 99 first and second graders. First, baseline mood was obtained on the faces mood measure where children were asked to the point to the face that best showed how they felt at the moment. Second, children viewed a film clip evoking fear. The film clip was followed by a mood manipulation check, indicating an effective negative change in mood. Next, children were randomly assigned to either a drawing group where children were instructed to draw anything they wanted for 5 minutes, or a sorting control group, where children were instructed to sort papers any way they wanted for 5 minutes. After the task, children again indicated their mood. Children were then asked to talk about the film clip and about a personal experience similar to that evoked by the film clip. At the end of the study, children watched a film clip that evoked a positive response on the faces mood measure.; Results supported the hypotheses that drawing would: (1) help repair mood, (2) facilitate verbalizations, and (3) facilitate children's verbalization of affect. Some support was found for the hypotheses that drawing would facilitate more negative and overall affect in children's personal experience responses. Some support was also found for the hypothesis that the drawing group would show higher total average organizational scores. This is one of the few empirical studies demonstrating that a nonspecific drawing intervention increases mood, verbalization, and affect in verbalization. Findings have important implications for the therapeutic use of drawing in clinical practice. |
