About this Research Topic

Background

Creative Arts Therapies is an umbrella term for healthcare professions that use the creative and expressive process of art making to improve and enhance the psychological and social well-being of individuals of all ages and health conditions. Creative arts therapies use the relationship between the client and therapist and among clients in group or dyadic therapy in the context of the creative-expressive process as a dynamic and vital force for growth and change. The creative-expressive process engages physiological sensations, emotions, and cognition; facilitates verbal and non-verbal symbolization, narration, and expression of conscious or unconscious conflicts and meaning-making through internal and external dialogue and communication between oneself and others.

Professional specializations include art therapy, music therapy, dance-movement therapy, drama therapy, psychodrama, and bibilo/poetry therapy. Creative arts therapists work in a variety of settings such as hospitals, educational institutions, community mental health facilities, prisons, hospices, and private practices.

The major objective of this Research Topic is to introduce, collect, discuss, and disseminate new clinical practices, scientific evidence, methodologies, theoretical concepts, and notions about Creative Arts Therapies. Publishing open-access papers under this Research Topic will serve as a unique and efficient opportunity not only to distribute updated knowledge among the many clinicians in this field, but also to inform and convey the importance and significant therapeutic impact of this field, to scientists and clinicians from other psychological disciplines.

Contributors are welcome to report evidence and to portray factors, processes, and theoretical models that could explain the therapeutic role of the creative-expressive arts in therapy, in a range of settings and populations. The present Research Topic will consider the following types of contributions:
• Original research articles with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods designs.
• Empirical studies on therapy change processes and outcomes.
• Experiments and clinical trials.
• Assessment methods relevant to the Creative Arts Therapies.
• Review and mini review articles (preferably systematic reviews) and meta-analysis.
• Theory-based clinical case studies and reports.
• General commentary, opinion, perspective, and theoretical articles.
• Methodological articles relevant to the Creative Arts Therapies.

Keywords: Art Therapy, Music Therapy, Dance Movement Therapy, Dramatherapy, Psychodrama

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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