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RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Jennifer Luzhansky
Intern Mentor GT
2017-2018

Title: Art is the Spoken Unconscious: Using Art Psychotherapy to Uncover Non-Vocalized Symptoms
in Schizophrenia

Overview of Research:
The focus of this research is to find evidence of whether art psychotherapy can increase the
patients’ communication and expression of symptoms or concerns. An art psychotherapy simulation will
be conducted through a set guidance onto depressed and neurotypical subjects- all women around
sixteen to eighteen years old. Depression is a symptom of schizophrenia, so a correlation between results
involving mood/emotion can be made between the two disorders, to an extent. A research notebook will
keep all observations relating to the person’s behavior and the progression of the artwork created. The
ability to communicate a given issue and the person’s mood will be analyzed and compared between the
two subject groups to decipher any evidence that suggests successful communication of a non-vocalized
issue using art psychotherapy.

Background and Rationale:

A big problem within therapy of psychiatric disorders is that the patient is unable to express their
symptoms. They may not explicitly know of their symptoms, or simply choose not to confront them
either out of fear, lack of motivation, or embarrassment. This inability to report can limit the effect of
treatment, thus worsening the problem over time. This is found to be very common in patients with
schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is defined as the inability to distinguish between reality and one’s
thoughts. It can take the form of delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized thought processes, and
language processing deficits (Stegmayer et al., 2017). The language processing center in the brain is
often adversely affected in this disorder, thus causing a hindered ability to speak and understand
language. Consequently, this affects the reporting of symptoms. That being said, the failure to express
symptoms may also be a product of unrecognizability, memory loss, or inability to think in a coherent
manner (Gendlin, 1972).
Art psychotherapy is a treatment option for people who struggle with mental disorders or other
hardships. It can give the person a sense of control and supply a judgement-free environment to work
through their symptoms (Jayaraman, 2017). There are no artistic skills required to partake in this
therapy. The session is guided by a psychologist and may occur in groups or individually. Guided art
psychotherapy can help the person learn how to behave in groups, how to express themselves in a
different way than they usually would, and even cope with their symptoms through contemplation as
they create artwork (Yasgur, 2017). Although widely unresearched, art psychotherapy could potentially
serve as a treatment option for people with schizophrenia- as the art component takes away the language
barrier and provides an alternate route of communication. Therefore, it is possible that art therapy could
enhance a schizophrenic’s reporting of symptoms.

Research Methodology:
Research Question- Can the usage of art therapy serve as another way to expose a
schizophrenic’s symptoms that cannot be explicitly stated?
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Research Hypothesis- If art therapy is guided in a way that allows the schizophrenic to create art
while directly thinking/feeling about the source problem, then there will be signs of the repressed
symptoms that can be analyzed within their artwork.
Schizophrenics often lack outwardly emotional responses, thus repressing their thoughts,
feelings, and symptoms. Research has found evidence supporting the idea that emotion-evoking
communication on the side of the therapist and if emotional keywords are brought up, then there is a
good chance that the emotion felt on the inside will appear within the artwork- giving insight into the
patient’s thoughts and symptoms, as they are interconnected to emotions.
Research Design Model- This study uses a qualitative evaluation research design. An art
psychotherapy simulation will be conducted using specific guidelines to steer the session in a constant
and similar way across all subjects. Although, since art psychotherapy in the field is always constructed
to accommodate the patient’s own needs/behaviors/problems/abilities, there will be a relative flexibility
in what the participant chooses to discuss and create. In fact, the differences between each patient’s
reaction to the set artistic guidance could indicate possible answers to the focus questions. Aged sixteen
to eighteen, ten female participants (five neurotypicals and five diagnosed with depression) will be
observed and evaluated in this study. Throughout the session, participants would be asked about their
mood and thoughts. Discussions about their artwork and art-making process will happen meanwhile
observations will be noted down.
Data Collection- A data collection notebook will be used to take observations. Data collection
will take place during and after the simulated art psychotherapy session, mostly while the person is
creating art. The subject’s behavior, mood, image creation, and things they say will be noted down and
evaluated as a product of the impact from art psychotherapy. The observations from patients vs. controls
will be analyzed against each other, and an overall assessment will be constructed for each subject
group.
Although people with depression are used in this study instead of schizophrenics, the results
from the depressed group can be transferred to patients with schizophrenia, as depression and flat affect
can be a symptom of schizophrenia. Art therapy focuses on the emotional aspects of disorders, and uses
the creation of art as a way to help the patient understand the problem and help them work through their
struggles- a technique that can help a person alleviate or fight through depression- thus treating the
schizophrenic. Literature relating to the topic will serve as guidance toward designing the experiment,
and be heavily relied on to push the study toward the right track.

Product Objectives:
The product will involve a pamphlet that advertises art psychotherapy for anyone that needs help
in communicating and expressing themselves. Specifically, the product will be directed toward young
adults through the wording and social media connections. The pamphlet will include a description of
what art psychotherapy is, break some myths about the treatment, emphasise that no prior art experience
is necessary, and give information and contacts for art therapy organizations.
These pamphlets will be placed in therapists’ offices and given to inpatient treatment centers.
They will be hung around University of Maryland Medical Center and University Of Maryland
Baltimore County. Also, they will be given to Mt. Hebron High School for display.

Logistical Considerations:
The research will require the contacting and finding of at least five willing subjects with
depression, and at least five control neurotypical subjects. All subjects should be women between the
ages of 16-18. A quiet, calming, and neutral environment will be needed. Acrylic paint, markers, a
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palette, paint brushes, and paper will be provided from the art room at Mt. Hebron High School. Also
thirty minute (at most) ‘sessions’ will be asked of every subject. Possibly, a voice recording device
would be needed. To create my product, I will need printer paper, a computer, and a printer to create
about 30 pamphlets. In order to share this product, I will need permission from inpatient and outpatient
treatment centers and other high schools excluding Mt. Hebron High School to display my pamphlet.

Timeline of Product Development:

Date Item to be Completed Description Completed?

2/1/18 Data Collection and Figure out the final type of research/data
Research Design collection that I will be pursuing.

2/5/18 Determine the Goals of Create a list what I need to receive from the
my Data Collection research and what I am looking for from the
results. What is the purpose of this research? How
can I connect the findings to my claims?

2/8/18 Rough Draft of Sketch out a few distinct research plans so I can
Experiment choose and develop upon the one that would work
the best. Keep the goals of the experiment in
mind, and formulate the experiment to reveal
results that provide answers to my questions.

2/9/18 Choose one of the Officially select the most relevant and logical
Experiment Designs rough evaluation research design, and use it from
now on to develop the research plan.

2/15/18 Peer Edit of Have at least three people look over a ‘final’ draft
Experiment of the research plan. I will be conducting and the
data collection notebook sample. Ask them to
look for any logical errors, biases, inconsistencies.

3/1/18 Final Experimental Use feedback from peers and finalize the design,
Design constant, variables, procedures, etc.

3/1/18 Data Collection Use feedback from peers to finalize goals, focus
Notebook questions, notation of results/observations, and
organization of notebook, etc.

3/1/18 Logistics Make sure all materials, spaces, time frame, costs,
etc. are figured out prior to experimentation.
Make sure that the environment/materials/etc. Are
constant for each participant.

3/15/18 Find 10 Willing These participants must be women between the

Participants ages of 16-18 who have basic knowledge of visual
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artistic concepts. 5 must be neurotypical and

willing to answer in-depth questions about their
mood, thoughts, etc., and 5 must have a form of
major depression and willing to answer in-depth
questions about their mood, thoughts, etc. Make
note of whether depressed participants are
currently in a depressive state or not.

3/1/18- Schedule Times to Make sure that the data collection happens
4/1/18 Conduct Experiment between the dates of March 1st- April 1st. Work
with Each Participant with each participant to see what times work for
both of us- mention that it will take at most 30
minutes.

4/1/18 Complete All Data All participants should have gone through the
Collection research and have been observed by this date.

4/10/18 Analyze Data Create an overall findings report for each group.
Compare/contrast findings between the control
and patient groups. Relate these findings to the
topic of my project, specifically how depressed
patients can be compared to schizophrenic
patients.

4/27/18 Revise Final Synthesis Add on all needed information and do a final edit
Paper of the entire paper.

5/3/18 Display Board Retrieve and work on the display board.

Showcase my research and provide information in
a way that is pleasing to the eye. Use the board
during the Celebration of Excellence.

5/1/18 Create Rough Draft of Figure out what the goal of the pamphlets will be.
Informative Pamphlets Sketch out a rough draft of what the pamphlet will
look like. Receive peer feedback.

5/11/18 Final Informative Complete a final version of the pamphlets, must

Pamphlets look professional, pleasing to the eye, and printed
not drawn.

5/11/18- Send Out Pamphlets Contact mentors and ask whether I can disperse
5/31/18 the Pamphlets around the lab building. I’m sure
they’ll say yes, so I’ll place them in waiting
rooms, conference rooms, lobbies, cork boards,
etc.

Approval:
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______________________ _________________________ _________________________

Student Signature G/T Resource Teacher Signature Mentor
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