The Effect of Art Therapy on Depression

This literature review of thirty-one articles is about depression and art therapy. These articles describe several art therapy assessment tools that are used to detect depression and art therapy interventions used to treat the symptoms of depression. No valid and reliable art therapy assessment tool sensitive enough to detect depression has been developed to date. Art therapy, however, has been shown to be an effective method to reduce the symptoms of depression. Though the quantifiable results are inconclusive, the qualitative results have shown that providing art therapy interventions reduces the symptoms of depression. Art therapy complements Adlerian therapy as both are holistic approaches to mental health therapy.