Premium
Effect of an art brut therapy program called go beyond the schizophrenia (GBTS) on prison inmates with schizophrenia in mainland China—A randomized, longitudinal, and controlled trial
Author(s) -
Qiu HongZhong,
Ye ZengJie,
Liang MuZi,
Huang YueQun,
Liu Wei,
Lu ZhiDong
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
clinical psychology and psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.315
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1099-0879
pISSN - 1063-3995
DOI - 10.1002/cpp.2069
Subject(s) - schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , mainland china , psychiatry , prison , psychology , anxiety , distress , art therapy , compliance (psychology) , mental health , clinical psychology , anger , china , psychotherapist , social psychology , criminology , political science , law
Creative arts therapies are proven to promote an interconnection between body and mind, but there are major obstacles for providing therapeutic services in prisons due to inmates' inherent mistrust for verbal disclosure and rigid self‐defenses, especially among inmates with schizophrenia. Thus, we developed a structured and quantitative art brut therapy program called go beyond the schizophrenia to actually measure the benefits of art therapy on prison inmates in mainland China. Upon completion of the program, the intervention group reported a decrease in anxiety, depression, anger, and negative psychiatric symptoms and showed better compliance with rules, socialization with peers, compliance with medications, and regular sleeping patterns after 16 weekly sessions of go beyond the schizophrenia. This article concludes that the art brut therapy was effective for the inmates with schizophrenia in mainland China and provides encouraging data on how to enhance mental health for inmates with schizophrenia. Key practitioner message Art brut therapy can reduce emotional distress and negative psychiatric symptoms among Chinese inmates. Arts brut therapy can enhance Chinese inmates' compliance with rules, socialization with peers, compliance with medicines, and regular sleeping patterns. Arts brut therapy in conjunction with medication is highly recommended for recovery of Chinese inmates with schizophrenia, especially for patients with negative symptoms.