PSY430 A Art Therapy Final Research Paper: Art Therapy as An Intervention for Children Facing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Introduction
Art therapy helps alleviate, mitigate, and redirect symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder in children through diverse artistic mediums of emotional expression that act as
therapeutic spaces to process their trauma. Art therapy offers a structured and safe space for children to explore the traumatic experiences that overwhelm them and express them in a physical form. By doing this, they’re also given a visual journey of their healing that they curated to see how far they’ve come from their first session.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a life-long mental health disorder that anyone can
suffer from. The debilitating disorder develops after an individual experiences a traumatic event such as, but not limited to, direct or indirect exposure to physical violence, sexual trauma, serious injuries, natural disasters, and death (Applewhite et al., 2025). In a child’s life, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can impair their social interactions and can cause them faulty academic and occupational functioning if their chronic traumas go untreated (Applewhite et al., 2025). The mental health disorder is characterized by intense, dream-like and in-the-moment flashbacks and nightmares, intrusive thoughts and memories, and general emotional distress that induces depression and anxiety in an individual.

Art therapy has a place in children’s healing as a form of psychotherapy involving a
qualified therapist for an individual who engages in creative activities for diagnostic or remedial purposes (Applewhite et al., 2025). That is not to say that art therapy can be practiced by just anyone- there is a stark difference between art that is therapeutic and art therapy conducted by a licensed professional who knows the nuances brought about by art as a form of symbolism. In children, art therapy manifests a physical form of initially convoluted emotions, feelings, and thoughts that may be hard to verbalize. Art therapists take in what colors or expressions have been created by the individual as symbols to interpret their emotional state.

Art therapy has become popular amongst children suffering from Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder because it doesn’t have to be intrusive like talk-based therapies are. It is also an easy medium to interact through in a therapeutic setting (Li et al., 2025). Creative arts therapies like dance/movement, art and music therapies, poetry, and interactive television are some examples of what art therapists use to help their patients represent their emotions. According to several different studies, arts and craft therapy and dance/movement therapy are specifically helpful towards the healing journey in children suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Li et al., 2025). These kinds of therapies can alleviate symptoms via a mind-body connection that aligns a child’s physiological needs with psychological ones.

Section I: Population
Children under eighteen with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are often facilitated by
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) to alleviate and redirect their
adversities. Theoretically, it’s the most helpful; but art therapy channels TF-CBT into a physical processing scape- this is called Trauma Focused Art Therapy.

Art Therapy is more helpful towards children with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
because they are able to channel their trauma more specifically and directly into art therapy than an adult could as a means of healing because they have such huge capacities for feelings and emotions to express within artistic mediums. As children grow up everything is experienced fresh, breeding means for art to take that raw emotion into a physical form. They are also a high-risk age group for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder- about 14% to 43% of adolescents go through at least one traumatic event in their lifetime (Li et al., 2025). 25% of all children will experience a traumatic event before reaching adulthood. The prevalence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in adolescents aged 13–17 years is 4.7% (Applewhite et al., 2025). The mental disorder impacts a child’s ability to regulate their emotions, attributing to disruption in attention and memory loss. This leads to executive dysfunction in their lives and leads to a lack of social activity. In
children, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder causes an enlarged amygdala and delayed prefrontal cortex development (Li et al., 2025). The effects this disorder has on children ravishes their lives. It viciously extends its grip on the physiological, cognitive, and social functioning of adolescents.

Art therapy is also helpful for children suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
because they may not have the capacity for talk-based therapy because the trauma(s) they
suffered from may be too triggering for them to communicate verbally. Children who have
experienced multiple traumatizing incidents have a much harder time articulating their emotions, and general memory loss.

Section II: Art Assessment
To be diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, an individual needs to have first
experienced a traumatic event so catastrophic that it induces flashbacks, intrusive
thoughts/memories, and dreams about or relating to the initial trauma for over a month after the incident occurred. To be diagnosed, a child would have to meet with a psychiatrist who would then give them the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5). This scale acts as a structured interview that assesses how bad an individual’s symptoms relating to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder have been over one week.

An assessment that an art therapist may use for a child suffering from Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder would be channeled through the lens of Trauma-Focused Art Therapy. Because the nature of art therapy is rooted in symbols, a patient may express themselves through symbolism within their art as both subconsciously internal and consciously external within the realm of art therapist to patient relationship (Rosal, 2018). The act of creating art within a therapeutic setting gives meaning to a child’s confusing inner world and life. Symbolism Trauma-Focused Art Therapy both play into the life of a child suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because making art is a cognitive process that an art therapist may use symbolism to uncover. By using deductive reasoning, physical sensations, and identifying and understanding emotional responses, an art therapist is able to help a child through the carnage that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder brings to their life. An artist is involved with uncovering mental images and messaging when creating art. They’re actively recalling memories, making decisions, and generating solutions (Rosal, 2018). Creating art involves instant feedback systems and ongoing reinforcement of satisfying behaviors. Each movement and piece made by a child suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder suggests or promotes further action (feedback) as well as delights (reinforces) the artist. Even the act of creating art means that there is a concrete record of inner processes that can be discussed, altered, and redrawn to the patient’s satisfaction (Rosal, 2018).

A specific example of an assessment would be Linda Gantt’s Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale- the F.E.A.T.S. Scale. When using this scale, an art therapist should approach the artwork as if they did not know what the image is supposed to be or represent. It ranges from numbers 0-5, and measures 6 subjects. Prominence of Color, or how art is implied and used- is there a wide variety of colors? If on the F.E.A.T.S. Scale 0 represents color for outlining only, then 5 would be using color to fill as much space as possible on the page (Pfeil, 2018). Implied Energy, or how much energy it would take for the therapist to recreate the drawing presented with 0 being very little time and energy and 5 being a lot of time and energy (Pfeil, 2018). Space, or how much space of the material provided is used and worked with, with 0 being less than 25% of the ‘space’ used to 5 being 100% of space used (Pfeil, 2018). Realism, or how well the art represents and depicts an object with 0 being an art therapist wouldn’t be able to tell that it is the object, and 5 being extremely accurate (Pfeil, 2018). Detail of Object and Environment, or how detailed the artwork is and what additions a patient may add with 0 being no details depicted and 5 being an overabundant amount (Pfeil, 2018). The final scale is Line Quality, or the general use of how sharp vs. how fluid the line art is represented; 0 being broken or damaged lines and 5 being more fluid (Pfeil, 2018).

Another assessment would be the Person Picking an Apple from a Tree (P.P.A.T.) Art
Therapy Directive. This assessment heavily relies on symbolism- with the apple representing a goal or desire. The apple or apples that the child draws may also represent a need- how accessible are the apples to the person picking them? Are there any on the ground? Was a ladder used (Kamp, 2025)? The tree symbolizes an individual’s support system(s), environment, or their stability. An art therapist may ask questions like “how healthy is the tree?” or “why is it so wide/thin?” The person and how they approach the tree and apples may represent a strategy or reveal coping mechanisms. An art therapist may question the child about if they see themselves represented in the individual they drew and ask questions about the emotional state of the depicted person. In the initial assessment, this may uncover a patient’s cognitive abilities and emotional state (Kamp, 2025). For children suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, this assessment is ideal for a gentle entry point into art therapy. To conduct P.P.A.T., an art therapist would provide paper and an assortment of colored pencils and then instruct the child to “draw a person picking apples from a tree.” The art therapist then observes their use of color(s) or how detailed the drawing is (Kamp, 2025).

Section II (continued): Art Interventions
Art therapy gives children suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder the chance to
represent their negative emotions and experiences in all sorts of unique mediums that wouldn’t be as translatable in other forms of therapy. Using creative endeavors, these children- especially ones who may be repressing their emotions- can externalize their trauma(s) into a physical form in a non-judgmental space. Art therapy has a value for children suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by improving their self-esteem and communication. When a child processes their trauma by creating art, that action improves their general integration and transformation (Braito et al., 2021).

Under the umbrella of art therapy are the creative arts- dance/movement, poetry,
sculpting, etc… One study found that creative arts interventions significantly reduced Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder in children (Applewhite et al., 2025). One intervention used for
children suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that helped alleviate their symptoms was the creative art therapy dance/movement therapy. This helps release somatic traumatic memories through bodily movements and helps release mind-body tensions. Some of these somatic traumas may take the form of muscle tension or tremors, which can be alleviated and ‘released’ through movement (Li et al., 2025). The results of one study showed that children participating in dance/movement therapy had decreased Post Traumatic Stress Disorder scores post-intervention, as well (Li et al., 2025). Dance/movement therapy also allows these children to naturally express their emotions in a non-verbal environment, allowing them to put their guard down (Li et al., 2025). A drawback of dance/movement therapy may be if they’re facing an injury that keeps them from being able to participate in it.

Another form of creative arts therapy under the umbrella of art therapy that helps
adolescents suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is poetry. When a child creates art, they’re able to transform their subconscious/conscious memories into symbols. Doing this transcends the limits that language has on therapy, activating the nonverbal processing areas of the right brain and reducing work put on the amygdala (Li et al., 2025). Not only does poetry work in an art therapy setting because it helps alleviate the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in children, but it also demonstrated the ability to relieve symptoms of their depression (Li et al., 2025). Poetry allows children to transform their disfigured, confusing traumas into an abstract realm that aligns with it- or not. That’s the beauty of writing- the author can transform their pain into anything. When these children write poetry, they take these fragmented and traumatic memories and turn them into concrete and manageable symbolic expressions. A drawback of this therapy would be the age and comfortability level of the children- if they’re present in front of a mandated reporter, they may not want to include all the heavy capacities of their Post Traumatic Stress Disorder into their poetry. If the child is too young, they wouldn’t be able to create poetry without heavy assistance, which could be extremely invasive for a child.

Working with art therapy in a group setting also helps children suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because it rebuilds their social connections through peer-to-peer interaction. Doing so breaks the cycle of social isolation and collaborative creation. Group art therapy doesn’t just create a community of individuals who can relate to each other, but fosters belonging in a child who has been isolated by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It creates a safe space to talk about the negative intricacies that the mental disorder has children suffer from in a regulated setting with an art therapist. A drawback of group art therapy would be how some individuals may be triggered by what others express, or a child may express discomfort in sharing what they’ve been through and not want to participate.

Conclusion
There is a misconception that art therapy is a secondary treatment or shouldn’t be used as
the main source of therapy. However, in terms of children suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, art therapy should be taken into consideration. That is not to say that it shouldn’t be a generally accepted form of therapy; but in cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, it reduces symptoms like avoidance, hyperarousal, and the reexperiencing of tragic events in children (Yuan, 2025). Human error also plays a part in the drawbacks of art therapy. In certain studies, there were comments made about the lack of participants due to their parents’ misunderstanding of the treatments conducted, or children being too fearful to participate because their parents were the ones causing their Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Yuan, 2025). Another drawback of art therapy is how a licensed practice isn’t very accessible to poor or rural communities. But one article stated how interventions that weren’t carried out by trained art therapists had better results in alleviating the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, therefore emphasizing the need for a community-based, cost-effective, and accessible means of intervention (Applewhite et al., 2025). Overall, the greatest challenge that art therapy faces is being looked at as an ineffective, abstract discipline- it’s hard for people to take it seriously when it’s not looked at through a scientific lens. One could make the same argument for therapy in general- but when people see the word “art” they don’t think about insight or symbolism. They put a limitation on what happens behind the scenes of an art therapy office. People don’t take art therapy session seriously and tend to assume that the discipline is not relevant or overall functional to their healing.

References
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Braito, I., Rudd, T., Buyuktaskin, D., Ahmed, M., Glancy, C., & Mulligan, A. (2021). Review:
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Kamp, S. (2025, April 17). Person Picking an Apple from a Tree (PPAT) Art Therapy Directive
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Li, Z., Cui, Q., & Liu, X. (2025). Systematic review of the effectiveness of arts therapy for
children and adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 16.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1716481

Pfeil, S. P. (2018, November 23). F E A T S [Review of F E A T S]. Where Creativity Works.
https://wherecreativityworks.com/f-e-a-t-s/

Rosal, M. L. (2018). Cognitive-Behavioral Art Therapy [Review of Cognitive-Behavioral Art
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https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uneedu/reader.action?docID=5323314&c=RVBVQ
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Versitano, S., Tesson, S., Lee, C.-W., Linnell, S., & Perkes, I. (2025). Art therapy with children
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Yuan, A. (2025, April 24). The Effect of Art Therapy on Childhood Trauma – NHSJS. NHSJS.
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