Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30557381›Full record

SynthesisPloS one2018

The effectiveness of art therapy for anxiety in adults: A systematic review of randomised and non-randomised controlled trials.

Annemarie Abbing, Anne Ponstein, Susan van Hooren, Leo de Sonneville, Hanna Swaab, Erik Baars

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06263257 (The Effect of Mandala Art Therapy on Anxiety and Comfort Levels in Living Kidney Transplant Recipients), which is not on this map. Cited by 40 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
40citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
53.6field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT06263257 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2024, after this paper: background citation

The Effect of Mandala Art Therapy on Anxiety and Comfort Levels in Living Kidney Transplant Recipients: A Mixed-Methods Study

TypeinterventionalSponsorBusra Nur TemurRan2024 to 2025Enrolled80ConditionsAnxiety, Transplant, Failure,Kidney, Transplant ComplicationArmsMandala Art Therapy
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

40 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 134 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Annemarie AbbingFaculty of Health, University of Applied Sciences Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-8096-3530
Anne PonsteinFaculty of Health, University of Applied Sciences Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Susan van HoorenKenVak, Research Centre for the Arts Therapies, Heerlen, The Netherlands.
Leo de SonnevilleClinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Hanna SwaabClinical Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Erik BaarsFaculty of Health, University of Applied Sciences Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0003-4428-5135
Leiden University · NLUniversity of Applied Sciences Leiden · NLZuyd University of Applied Sciences · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAnxiety disorders are one of the most diagnosed mental health disorders. Common treatment consists of cognitive behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy. In clinical practice, also art therapy is additionally provided to patients with anxiety (disorders), among others because treatment as usual is not sufficiently effective for a large group of patients. There is no clarity on the effectiveness of art therapy (AT) on the reduction of anxiety symptoms in adults and there is no overview of the intervention characteristics and working mechanisms.

methodsA systematic review of (non-)randomised controlled trials on AT for anxiety in adults to evaluate the effects on anxiety symptom severity and to explore intervention characteristics, benefitting populations and working mechanisms. Thirteen databases and two journals were searched for the period 1997 -October 2017. The study was registered at PROSPERO (CRD42017080733) and performed according to the Cochrane recommendations. PRISMA Guidelines were used for reporting.

resultsOnly three publications out of 776 hits from the search fulfilled the inclusion criteria: three RCTs with 162 patients in total. All studies have a high risk of bias. Study populations were: students with PTSD symptoms, students with exam anxiety and prisoners with prelease anxiety. Visual art techniques varied: trauma-related mandala design, collage making, free painting, clay work, still life drawing and house-tree-person drawing. There is some evidence of effectiveness of AT for pre-exam anxiety in undergraduate students. AT is possibly effective in reducing pre-release anxiety in prisoners. The AT characteristics varied and narrative synthesis led to hypothesized working mechanisms of AT: induce relaxation; gain access to unconscious traumatic memories, thereby creating possibilities to investigate cognitions; and improve emotion regulation.

conclusionsEffectiveness of AT on anxiety has hardly been studied, so no strong conclusions can be drawn. This emphasizes the need for high quality trials studying the effectiveness of AT on anxiety.

Indexed as

Art TherapyAnxiety DisordersControlled Clinical Trials as TopicHumans

Identifiers

PMID30557381
PMCPMC6296656
OpenAlexW2903900312

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.