One of the frequently overlooked psychosocial problems of refugees is the phenomenon of homesickness. Being forced into exile and unable to return home may cause natural feelings of nostalgia but may also result in emotional, cognitive, behavioral and physical adversities. According to the literature, the creative arts therapies with their attention to preverbal language—music, imagery, dance, role play, and movement—are able to reach individuals through the senses and promote successive integration, which can lead to transformation and therapeutic change. These forms of therapy can be a temporary home for refugees in the acculturation process, by serving as a safe and enactive transitional space. More specifically, working with dance and movement can foster the experience of the body as a home and thus provide a safe starting place, from which to regulate arousal, increase interoception, and symbolize trauma- and resource-related processes. Hearing, playing, and singing music from the home culture may assist individuals in maintaining their cultural and personal individuality. Creating drawings, paintings, or sculpturing around the topics of houses and environments from the past can help refugees to retain their identity through art, creating safe spaces for the future helps to look ahead, retain resources, and regain control. This article provides a literature review related to home and homesickness, and the role the arts therapies can play for refugees in transition. It further reports selected interview data on adverse life events and burdens in the host country from a German study. We propose that the creative arts therapies are not only a container that offers a temporary home, but can also serve as a bridge that gently guides refugees to a stepwise integration in the host country. Several clinical and research examples are presented suggesting that the support and affirmation through the creative arts can strengthen individuals in their process of moving from an old to a new environment.

Caring for cancer patients can be highly stressful for both family caregivers and oncology professionals. These high levels of stress can lead to poorer patient outcomes and increased risk of health problems for the caregivers themselves. Art therapy may help these caregivers as art-making can be a relaxing and enjoyable form of self-expression and art therapists can support individuals in expressing and processing challenging emotions. Research on art-making or art therapy with caregivers of cancer patients has shown some positive results, but its interpretation is limited by the use of multifaceted interventions. In this mixed-methods study we compared two brief arts-based approaches for both professional and informal caregivers: single sessions of coloring or open-studio art therapy, with a 45-minute session each. Assessments imcluded self-reports of affect, stress, self-efficacy, anxiety, burnout arnd creative agency alongside salivary biomarkers before and after the session. Open-ended questions, field notes and observations formed the qualitative part of the study. Thirty-four professional (n=25) and informal (n=9) caregivers participated. Participants in both conditions showed increases in positive affect, creative agency, and self-efficacy and decreases in negative affect, anxiety, perceived stress, and burnout. Participants in both conditions expressed enjoyment, relaxation, appreciation of time away from stressors, creative problem solving, a sense of flow, and personal and existential insight. The two approaches also elicited distinct experiences with participants reporting that they found improved focus in coloring and appreciated the support and freedom of expression in open studio art therapy. These findings suggest that even brief art-making interventions can be beneficial for stressed caregivers of cancer patients. As experience with art-making increased the impact, repeated sessions may be even more useful. We recommend that oncology units have dedicated studio spaces with therapeutic support and different forms of art-making available to meet individual caregiver needs.

Art therapy has been found to help Veterans with symptoms of post-traumatic stress. There is however limited scholarship on the differences in outcomes based on dosage (short-term vs. long-term treatment) especially for active duty military service members (SMs). This mixed methods program evaluation study examined feedback from SMs on their experiences of art therapy in an integrative medical care center after 3 weeks of group therapy and at the end of treatment (average time of 2 years). Data included participant demographics, feedback surveys, and narrative responses from SMs experiences of art therapy. The results indicate that longer-term art therapy resulted in improved perceived outcomes compared with the short term 3-week intervention. SMs with longer time in service reported the most improved self-reported outcomes. Women SMs expressed more positive emotions during their art making. Specific themes that were effectively addressed through art therapy included frustration tolerance, grief and loss, emotion regulation, personal insight, resiliency, and trauma processing. SMs also highlighted the unique and transformative role of the relationship with the therapist with alleviation of symptoms. The findings suggest benefits to long-term art therapy including improved ability in SMs to be aware of their symptoms and communicate effectively with others.

Background: Coloring books for adults have become a ubiquitous presence in retail outlets worldwide and in the visual cultural landscape. The goal of this study was to determine differences in outcomes between art therapist-facilitated open studio and individual coloring. Methods: The study used a within-subjects experimental design. Healthy adult participants (aged 19–67 years) were invited to engage in one session each of individual coloring, and open studio facilitated by an art therapist. A total of 36 participants enrolled in the study; 29 completed pre- and post-surveys for both conditions. Outcomes measured included positive and negative affect, perceived stress, self-efficacy, and creative agency. Results: The art therapist-facilitated open studio condition resulted in superior improvements in positive affect, creative agency, and self-efficacy compared to the coloring condition. Both conditions resulted in lowered stress and reduced negative affect. Discussion and implications: The results indicated that coloring might have therapeutic benefits on distress; however, only the art therapist-facilitated open studio session showed significant improvements in self-efficacy, self-perceptions of creativity, and positive mood. Art therapists might consider using the phenomenon of coloring as a doorway to art therapy and more spontaneous creative and self-expression for transformative change. Future studies should seek to identify the unique mechanism of change through which art therapist-facilitated art making explains the shifts in positive affect, creative agency, and self-efficacy.

Background: Although the Gulf War occurred almost 30 years ago, the chronic symptoms of Gulf War illness (GWI), which include respiratory, gastrointestinal, and skin problems, as well as fatigue, pain, and mood alterations, currently affect over 200,000 veterans. Meanwhile, healthcare providers lack clear guidelines about how to best treat this illness. The objective in this study was to learn about the perceptions and experiences of healthcare providers of GWI veterans in terms of medical symptoms, resources for treatment, and quality of care. Methods: We interviewed 10 healthcare providers across the United States and subsequently conducted a qualitative grounded theory study which entailed both systematic data analysis and generating a grounded theory framework. Results: Our findings indicated multiple challenges for providers of veterans with GWI, including gaps in knowledge about GWI, lack of treatment options, absence of consistent communication within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) system, and personalized care that was limited to validation. Conclusion: While this study had several limitations, it supported the notion that healthcare providers have inadequate knowledge and awareness about GWI, which leads to continued uncertainty about how to best care for GWI veterans. This could be remedied by the creation of a comprehensive curriculum for a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to serve as an educational tool for those attending to this largely overlooked veteran population.