One of the most notable disorders in the area of child psychotherapy is attention deficiency and hyperactivity disorder, which is particularly a big problem in children at school age. ADHD is one of behavioral disorders observed commonly in children's...
One of the most notable disorders in the area of child psychotherapy is attention deficiency and hyperactivity disorder, which is particularly a big problem in children at school age. ADHD is one of behavioral disorders observed commonly in children's development and its major symptoms are short attention, impulsive behavior, hyperactive tendency, etc. These primary characteristics of ADHD result in secondary problems such as poor academic performance, problems in peer relation, low self-respect, low motivation for activities, depression, anxiety and withdrawal, and ADHD children's non-conforming characteristics often invite negative feedback in their interpersonal relations. If ADHD children are frequently exposed to such negative feedback, they experience frustration or come to have a negative image of themselves, which in turn causes difficulties in their psycho-social adjustment in adolescence and adulthood. That is, these factors make ADHD children lose confidence in themselves and feel afraid of expressing in situations that they are faced with, and ultimately, have negative impacts on their self-expression and self-efficacy.
Thus, efforts to treat ADHD children should be started from the early period of their school age, and adequate treatment methods should be sought not only in the cognitive and behavioral aspects but also in various emotional aspects.
For the purpose, the present study examined the effects of art therapy on ADHD children's self-expression and self-efficacy.
The subject of this study was a 3rd-grade boy who was diagnosed with ADHD at the Department of Child Psychotherapy. He was poor in self-expression, could not control himself nor delay desires, and felt afraid of doing something new or being in new environment.
The research was conducted during the period from July 2006 to March 2007, applying a personalized program once a week and a total of 30 sessions.
As a qualitative case study, we observed and recorded the child's responses and changes at each session, and photographed the child's works under the parents' consent. In addition, through interviews' with the guardian, we collected data on the child's emotional and behavioral changes during the time other than the art therapy sessions.
The results of this study are as follows.
First, the child expressed his tension and anxiety about his environment through his art activities and art works. In particular, his works revealed his desire for a stable relation with his mother and this helped the child's mother understand and accept the child and improve her relation with the child. In addition, the art therapy program enhanced the effect of self-expression as a visual language through the process of expressing negative feelings on frustrated desires and purifying himself.
Second, the child experienced a sense of achievement through completing various works over several sessions rather than doing fragmentary works, and eased his tension with new media through vicarious experience in the therapist's modeling observation and joint work, and gained confidence in challenging new works. Furthermore, positive feedback to the child helped him overcome abandonment and frustration and continue his art activities, and the stable therapeutic environment provided with constant support and interest helped him overcome anxiety and gain emotional stability.
Through the art therapy process, the child's stiff and limited art activities changed gradually to be voluntary and positive, and his self-efficacy was improved as he felt satisfaction and achievement from creating his own world.
As presented above, the art therapy in this study had positive effects on the ADHD child's self-expression and self-efficacy and interviews with the mother showed that the therapy also brought positive changes to the child's attitude toward learning, his parents and the teacher.