Art therapy possibilities in the complex treatment of patients with multiple sclerosis

Objective: to study the effectiveness of art therapy methods in the complex treatment of neuropsychological disorders and quality of life improvement in patients with relapsing-remitting and secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis (MS).

Patients and methods. A group of 42 patients (5 men and 37 women, mean age 32.9 years, mean EDSS severity 3.8 points) with MS underwent outpatient continuous active art therapy cycle. The mean group training cycle duration was six months. The comparison group included 15 age- and sex-adjusted individuals without neurological disorders. Tests on various drawing topics were carried out before and after a three-month therapy course. We used Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to assess the severity of anxiety and depression and the SF-36 scale to evaluate the quality of life (QoL).

Results and discussion. Before the art therapy start, light blue, yellow, pink, blue, and green colors prevailed in the drawings. There was no predominance of any color depending on MS severity or course. The green color predominated in this test in the control group, and the light blue color was significantly less represented. The art therapy course did not lead to a significant change in the severity of MS according to the 

Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). After the art therapy course, the color scheme of the drawings was mainly represented by red, light blue, green, yellow, and blue colors. In addition, a red-orange color appeared in the drawings, which was completely absent before the course. Positive trends were noted according to HADS: a decrease in anxiety by 23% and depression by 19%. The physical component of QoL assessed by the SF-36 scale did not change substantially, but the psychological component significantly improved by 11%.

Conclusion. The predominance of light blue color observed in MS is associated with damage to the nervous and musculoskeletal systems, and blue color – with psychological problems and depression. However, after a course of art therapy for MS, red, red-orange, yellow, and green colors representation increased significantly, which indicates an increase in positive attitude, a decrease in the level of depression, and an improvement in QoL.

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