Thaler L, et al. – This paper incorporated an enquiry of the effect of art–therapy, consisting of a visit to Montreal Museum of Fine Arts followed by an art–therapy workshop, adjunct to traditional eating disorder treatment. Evidence was yielded on the suitability of art therapy programs as adjuncts to standard treatments for adults with eating disorders. There did not appear to be any notable short–term impact, either positive or negative, on body image or eating preoccupations/urges.

Methods

• A scrutiny was performed of the suitability of the AT program for patients being treated for eating disorders (in terms of patient satisfaction and tolerability).
• The enrollment included 78 patients.

Results

• The enrollees enjoyed the program, and found it interesting and enriching.
• They felt that the program provided a means for self-expression and creativity.
• The short-term impact of art therapy was examined on self-reported mood using the Profile of Mood States (POMS-BI (Lorr, McNair, & Fisher, 1982)), eating disorder preoccupations and urges using a Visual Analog Scale, along with body image concerns using the Body Satisfaction Scale (Slade, Dewey, Newton, Brodie, & Kiemle, 1990).
• The candidates appeared to be considerably more composed and slightly more tired, at the end of the program.