Art Therapy QEEG Study for Service Members with a Traumatic Brain Injury and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

"This is a pilot study in which every participant receives the art therapy intervention arm. There are no waitlist or control arms. Art therapy is one promising intervention that helps service members (SMs) develop a visual voice, using imagery, symbolism, and metaphor to externalize emotions and experiences that they may not be able to express in words. The standardized, integrative mental health and human services approach of the art therapy program at the NICoE utilizes a mask-making directive to explore thoughts, feelings, and experiences of combat and self-understanding. This process is especially relevant to SMs with PTS symptoms who often remember their trauma as an incoherent, fragmented memory that is often predominantly sensory in nature. NICoE researchers have provided preliminary evidence suggesting associations between recurring art themes represented within the masks and individual BH symptoms."