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.

Art Therapy

April 2021

Full Citation

Qiu, H., Ye, Z., Liang, M., Huang, Y., Liu, W., & Lu, Z. (2017). 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. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 24(5), 1069–1078. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2069

Abstract

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. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)