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Published in Nature Mental Health, the study is the first to analyse major global studies to evaluate how well creative arts therapies work for young people who have been diagnosed or have symptoms of PTSD in non-Western and underrepresented populations.
Drawing on 33 studies involving 4,587 participants from 17 countries across six continents, the research found substantial reductions in PTSD symptoms following creative arts-based interventions.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is increasingly prevalent in young people worldwide, with an estimated 25 per cent of children and adolescents globally experiencing a traumatic event before reaching adulthood. These could include physical or sexual violence, natural disasters or conflicts, and the death of a close family member. But current evidence-based treatments show variable outcomes.
The lead author Briana Applewhite, a doctoral researcher from the University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry, supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley,
Read the full story on the Department of Psychiatry website.