Art Therapy

This post doesn't quite fit the research I "stumbled" upon criteria, as it is information I purposefully went seeking, but I worked on it long enough to share. I did my senior thesis/paper/project on Art Therapy for Depression in Low Income Children. This is some of the cool research that was out there on the topic. 

Art Therapy for Cancer Patients

One study had patients receiving chemo therapy for cancer attend art therapy as well. It was not mandatory, but art therapy was available after each treatment, and participants could participate as much or as little as they wanted. What the study found was that patients who participated in four or more session of art therapy showed a significant reduction in depression symptoms as well as a reduction in fatigue. One weakness of the study was that participants were not randomly assigned to receive art therapy, so there might have been something different about those who chose to participate that led to their decrease of symptoms. 
 
Bar-Sela, G., Atid, L., Danos, S., Gabay, N. and Epelbaum, R. (2007), Art therapy improved depression  and influenced fatigue levels in cancer patients on chemotherapy. Psycho-Oncology, 16: 980–984. doi: 10.1002/pon.1175 

Art Therapy in Prison

One study found TONS of benefits for prisoners who were involved in art therapy. For example, prisoners were significantly more likely to comply with authority and less likely to engage in violence if they were participating in art therapy. I thought the research was pretty solid, but the researcher actually addresses some of the weaknesses and redid the study, still with significantly positive results. Depression symptoms also decreased for those involved in the second study.

Gussak, D. (2007). The effectiveness of art therapy in reducing depression in prison populations. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology , 51(4), 444-460. doi: 10.1177/0306624X06294137

Group Art Therapy for Sexually Abused Girls

A population with loads of research is sexually abused girls. I found two studies with similar formats for art therapy on sexually abused girls. Both studies used group art therapy over a period of several weeks to try and reduce post-traumatic stress. Each week, the girls worked on a different art project individually, and then discussed it with the group. For example, one week they made emotion boxes, where they decorated the outside of a box with emotions they show the world, and the inside with the emotions they hide, and then shared both of these with the other girls. I found these studies very interesting because they were testing several different variables. One independent variables, or what they manipulated, was the group vs individual therapy. The tested for several dependent variables, including PTSD symptoms, self-esteem, depression, and sexual concerns. 

Pfiefer, N. (2010). Group art therapy with sexually abused girls. South African Journal of Psychology, 40(1), 63-73. Retrieved from http://bernard.pitzer.edu/~hfairchi/pdf/psychology/Therapy&Diversity/Pretorious(2010)ArtT&SoAfricanGirls.pdf

Pifalo, T. (2002). Pulling out the thorns: Art therapy with sexually abused children and adolescents. Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 19(1), 12-22.

 

Advil vs Tylenol

Have you seen this commercial yet?

 

Well, it drives me nuts!!! It's clearly (I hope) not a real research study, and just a marketing ploy, but I don't know how obvious that is to everyone who does not have a bachelor of science degree. So I'll just use it as a teaching tip about some things to look out for when considering the validity of research.

1. Pay attention to variables. The thing that drives me most insane about this commercial is that Advil and Tylenol are NOT THE SAME. Advil is ibuprofen, while Tylenol is acetaminophen. This means that the "study" is not actually testing the name brand, but the type of medication. You can get the CVS brand of either. When analyzing a study, see what the researcher is trying to test, and decide if that's what they actually are testing. This is more relevant is studies that test abstract things, like intelligence. Do the researchers' variables of intelligence match your own? Are they accurate? There's a little more leway with something abstract, as there may be more than one correct definition, but differences in medication types are pretty solid, and the commercial is misleading.

AND

2. Who did the research? And who funded it? I am less likely to believe a research study on the health benefits of orange juice if it was funded by the Pepsi Company. (But Pepsi is soda, you say. That makes no sense, you say? Pepsi also owns Tropicana, I say). I am more likely to believe a study on the health benefits of orange juice conducted by a hospital or other source. Therefore, a study about Advil, conducted by Advil is just a little too fishy for me to swallow. This isn't only about funding though. There is lots of research bias types out there. Make sure you're paying attention to them all!

Blog about a Blog

For my Experimental Design class, it only makes sense that we have a project to create and conduct an experiment. My topic is about how certain personality traits affect Facebook use. Upon my research for previous research, I found a somewhat relevant blog about a survey conducted for the cite, so I decided to blog about the blog. It's a pretty simple survey, that collects some pretty basic data.

http://blog.digg.com/post/47705350604/what-you-told-us

Quite Interesting

Unfortunatley, high paid celebrities like Stephen Colbert, gets lots of vacation time. I do not, so while Colbert was off air, I found another show to help me unwind, and it was great because I could watch it and be productive at the same time.

QI (quite interesting) is a British television show that challenges our "common sense" knowledge. Two episodes caught my attention when it comes to research.

The first, "Geometry,"  talks about the common belief that horizontal stripes make people appear thinner than vertical stripes, however according to researcher Peter Thompson from York University, not only is this false, the opposite is true: horizontal stripes make people appear thinner. You can find the first conversation on the topic from 1:50- 5:13, and a conversation with Peter Thompson from 7:25-8:47. It's a bit lengthy, but informative and hilarious at the same time!

The second episode that caught my attention was "Illness." In this episode, they did not talk about a particular study done, but they discussed some important information about research studies in general. The conversation starts about the Placebo Effect, a very well known and supported effect in research. They also bring up some faults of commonly cited research, including that sometimes research is poorly done and not reliable, or the researcher does what they call "cherry picking" where they only report the trials that support what the researcher wants to report, and ignore the rest. It is important to keep these things in mind when we read research or hear about cited studies. You can find the relevant portion at 7:42-11:44 min.

Analyzing Colbert

As a super busy student I go from class, to internship, to work, to homework everyday, so it's pretty late by the time I get to sit down and unwind. My favorite way to unwind four days a week: THE COLBERT REPORT! It condenses my news and my comedy into one program, perfect for my busy schedule. This particular gem popped up a few weeks ago.

  Coming Out Benefits & Gay Rights

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/423359/january-30-2013/coming-out-benefits---gay-rights

Here's the link to the original publication of the study:
http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/content/75/2/99.full

And here's a link to a good news article about the original article
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2013/02/openly-gay-and-bisexual-men-are-happier-than-straight-men-says-study/

What you don't expect your facebook to say about you

One of the first types of research I learned about in class was a correlational study. A correlation is a relationship between two things. It is important to remember that in a correlation, you can not prove that one thing causes the other.

A great example of a correlational study popped up on my facebook the other day. What was it about? Facebook of course. And it immediately caught my attention because it told me that I am smart because I like the Colbert Report (or maybe that I liked the Colbert report because I am smart- see what I mean).

Here's the link to the original article that caught my attention:
http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/03/on-facebook-smart-people-like-the-colbert-report-and-curly-fries/

And here's a good video on the study from CNN

link: http://youtu.be/4xGsb9MSFgQ

About Me

Hey Everyone,

My name is Teresa and I am a senior psychology major. Usually, I try to avoid introducing myself in this manner, because the moment I mention that I am into psychology, the response is, "Oh, so I should watch what I say around you or you'll analyze me." Of course, I giggle and deny it, but I would be lying if I told you that I didn't at least a little. It's the burden of a psych student, seeing everything you learn in the classroom in your daily actions in the real world. This semester, I am taking a Research Methods class, and naturally, I am make connections from class to the world around me. So this blog is to keep track of some of the cool things I find. Enjoy!