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THE EFFECT OF ART THERAPY ON THE EMOTIONAL

WELL-BEING OF MALE IABF FEU STUDENTS WHO ARE
EXPERIENCING HEARTBREAK
Psychology (Far Eastern University)

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THE EFFECT OF ART THERAPY ON THE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF MALE IABF FEU STUDENTS
WHO ARE EXPERIENCING HEARTBREAK

THE EFFECT OF ART THERAPY

ON THE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING
OF MALE IABF FEU STUDENTS
WHO ARE EXPERIENCING HEARTBREAK

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

SUBMITTED BY:

ACOSTA, JILLIANNE ROBYN MARIE A.

BARREDA, TRISHIA A.
CONSTANTINO, MA. FATHIMA O.
GALLIEN, JEANEEL KAETH E.
GINER, YSABEL DOMINIQUE C.
VEZAR, PATRICK NICOLE D.

OCTOBER 2018

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THE EFFECT OF ART THERAPY ON THE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF MALE IABF FEU STUDENTS
WHO ARE EXPERIENCING HEARTBREAK

INTRODUCTION

A single heartbreak may or may not have an impact on an individual’s emotional

well-being. Some people handle it through sharing their feelings with friends or family that he or

she is comfortable with. While other people choose to isolate themselves and drink their

problems away. Some choose to engage in activities that would ease and calm their minds such

as meditation, music, and art.

Art, specifically, is considered as therapeutic. This has helped people have peace of mind

regardless of what they are going through. It has also contributed to an individual’s emotional

well-being in terms of being more positive with their outlook in life.

Pain, as described by the International Association for the Study of Pain, is the

“unpleasant ​sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage,

or described in terms of such damage.” Pain is a subjective and complex phenomenon that does

not limit itself to the physical. It comes in a variety of forms. Besides the physical, there are also

mental and emotional pain. This paper explores the effect of mental and emotional pain and how

it could be overcome through art therapy.

Emotional and mental pain can strongly hinder performance socially and academically.

And could also affect one’s physical, emotional, and mental health and well-being in a severely

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THE EFFECT OF ART THERAPY ON THE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF MALE IABF FEU STUDENTS
WHO ARE EXPERIENCING HEARTBREAK

negative way. A common example of emotional and mental pain experienced among the current

generation is that of heartbreak. The feeling of love lost and gone by. When one experiences the

pain of heartbreak, they tend to look for ways to better cope. Something that will help lessen or

even erase the feeling of pain. The researchers plan to explore the coping of pain through

creative means. Art therapy has been a proven coping mechanism to help in dealing with

numerous types of pain. Through this paper, the researchers hope to explore if the same extends

to that of heartbreak among students.

Theoretical Background

Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory. Psychoanalytic Theory argued that personality

is formed through conflicts among three fundamental structures of the human mind: the id, ego,

and superego. The psychoanalytic approach to art therapy helps uncover unconscious imagery,

and discover unconscious fantasies and impulses. Freudian theory defines sublimation as a

process in which urges arising from the id are transformed into socially productive and

acceptable outcomes that gratify the original urge. Through art, Edith Kramer, one of the early

pioneers in the field of art therapy, believed negative and destructive emotions and urges are

transformed into useful products.

Carl Jung’s Analytical Theory. Analytical Theory emphasizes the importance of the

individual psyche and the personal quest for wholeness. Jung advocated the use of movement,

drama, and visual imagery in the technique he called ‘active imagination,’ which was a creative

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THE EFFECT OF ART THERAPY ON THE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF MALE IABF FEU STUDENTS
WHO ARE EXPERIENCING HEARTBREAK

way of amplifying ideas and feelings in therapy. Jung believed that using art as a way of creating

and shaping our feelings, thoughts, and emotions we could bring these intangible things outside

of ourselves to create a tangible object that could bring understanding of the feelings, thoughts,

and emotions within us. This also addresses the importance of being able to express and explain

the inexpressible and unexplainable things that are within us by a means other than the spoken or

written language.

Melanie Klein’s Object Relations Theory. Object relations theory plots the

developmental sequence of maturation and subsequent attachment to objects. "Objects", in the

psychoanalytic sense, refers to persons who or things that are psychologically signicant to the

individual. This theory examines the quality of these relationships and concomitant behaviors as

they shape the individual's sense of identity and other ego function. The aim of object relations

art therapy is to help an individual in therapy uncover early mental images that may contribute to

any present difficulties in one's relationships with others and adjust them in ways that may

improve interpersonal functioning. Within object relations therapy, the therapy relationship can

be used as a staging ground for the emergence of the client’s relational pathology and as a result,

the therapist-client relationship is seen as a special and unique object relation. Many art

therapists have addressed alienation from an object relations standpoint. Individual's loss of

boundaries and regression to fusion states through transference. The art process itself can be

viewed as transitional, whereby another "holding" environment is created within which object

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THE EFFECT OF ART THERAPY ON THE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF MALE IABF FEU STUDENTS
WHO ARE EXPERIENCING HEARTBREAK

relations can develop. Artistic work resembles the transitional object, lessening the tension that is

often generated in traditional psychotherapy.

John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth’s Attachment Theory. Attachment theory is focused

on the relationships and bonds between people, particularly long-term relationships, including

those between a parent and child and between romantic partners. Linking art therapy to

attachment theory, the individual reenact, and have the opportunity to repair, their attachment

styles in art therapy through the art materials and their artistic process. The focus is on two

insecure ways of attaching, which are the avoidant and resistant/ambivalent attachment styles.

Establishing a secure base in art therapy is explored; the therapist does this through the art

materials and how he/she responds to the client. Providing a secure base enables the art therapist

to help the individual to repair insecure attachment styles. Certain art materials and/or activities

are described as indicating attachment because they have qualities that symbolically relate to

attaching and detaching, which are attachment behaviors. These behaviors are explored through

the acts of taping, gluing, tying, stapling, and cutting.

David Epston and Michael White’s Narrative Theory. Narrative theory starts from the

assumption that narrative is a basic human strategy for coming to terms with fundamental

elements of our experience, such as time, process, and change, and it proceeds from this

assumption to study the distinctive nature of narrative and its various structures, elements, uses,

and effects. This therapeutic theory is founded on the idea that people have many interacting

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THE EFFECT OF ART THERAPY ON THE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF MALE IABF FEU STUDENTS
WHO ARE EXPERIENCING HEARTBREAK

narratives that go into making up their sense of who they are, and that the issues they bring to

therapy are not restricted within the clients themselves, but rather are influenced and shaped by

cultural discourses about identity and power. Narrative therapy centers on a rich engagement in

re-telling a client's narrative by re-considering, re-appreciating, and re-authoring the client's

preferred lives and relationships.

1.

Conceptual Paradigm

Figure 1: A schematic diagram showing the relationship of the research variables

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THE EFFECT OF ART THERAPY ON THE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF MALE IABF FEU STUDENTS
WHO ARE EXPERIENCING HEARTBREAK

The researchers will randomly select and assign male FEU IA students into three

treatment groups. Prior to the treatment process, participants will be undergoing a pretest using

the Profile of Mood States (POMS) to assess their mood and stress levels. It is five-point scale

ranging from “not at all” to “extremely” with seven subscales namely: Tension, Anger, Fatigue,

Depression, Esteem-related Affect, Vigour, and Confusion.

After the evaluation, participants from the different experimental groups will proceed to

their assigned treatment. The first experimental group will be undergoing art therapy with

Freestyle Drawing. Participants will be given a piece of paper and pencil, and will be asked to

express their thoughts or feelings at the moment by drawing whatever comes to their mind. The

second experimental group will be undergoing art therapy with Mandala Painting. Participants

will be given a piece of paper with a mandala design, a set of watercolor, and a paintbrush. They

will be instructed to paint the artwork using colors that express what they are feeling. Lastly, the

third experimental group will be undergoing art therapy with Clay Modeling. Participants will be

given clay of different colors, and will be instructed to mold the clay into whatever shape or

object that symbolizes their emotional state.

The three experimental groups will be assessed again using the Profile of Mood States

(POMS) for posttest to evaluate their mood and stress levels after undergoing art therapy. The

results from the pretest and posttest will be compared and analyze by the experimenters to

determine whether the art therapy conducted from different treatment groups was effective in

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THE EFFECT OF ART THERAPY ON THE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF MALE IABF FEU STUDENTS
WHO ARE EXPERIENCING HEARTBREAK

improving the emotional state of the participants experiencing heartbreak, and which among the

three therapeutic techniques utilized was the most effective.

Statement of the Problem

This research aims to determine the effect of Art therapy to the emotional well-being of

selected Male IABF FEU students who are experiencing heartbreak. Specifically, it seeks to find

answers to the following questions:

1. Does Art therapy have a positive effect on the emotional well-being of individuals who

are experiencing heartbreak?

2. Which of the psychotherapeutic techniques involving artistic self-expression is most

effective on the emotional repression in males?

3. Is there a significant difference among the mean scores of freestyle drawing, mandala

painting, and clay modeling art therapy?

4. Does Art therapy effective in resolving personal conflicts and eliminating psychological

distress?

5. Which procedural expressions through the experience of touch, movement, and the

three-dimensional aspect of clay-work is most effective to use?

6. Does therapeutic work with mandalas induce emotional reactions? Is it beneficial from a

healing perspective?

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THE EFFECT OF ART THERAPY ON THE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF MALE IABF FEU STUDENTS
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7. Does freestyle drawing leads to mood-congruent thoughts for effective expression of

emotions?

Hypothesis

In order to determine the significant effect of art therapy on the elimination of emotional

pain of Male FEU IABF students who are experiencing heartbreak, the following null hypotheses

were tested at 0.05 levels of significance.

Ho: There is no statistical difference among the sample means of freestyle drawing, mandala

painting, and clay sculpting art therapy.

Ho: Art therapy does not have a significant effect on the emotional well-being of individuals.

Significance of the Study

For Males, the study will provide deeper understanding on how art therapy contributes to

their emotional well-being. For Art Therapy, the study will help people recognize that using art

as therapy can be effective in eliminating pain. On the other hand, Females would also be aware

of the implications of using art as means of reducing emotional pain. In the field of Clinical

Psychology, the study will help improve the therapeutic interventions used for assessing clients.

It would also provide additional information for clinicians in order to determine an individual’s

pain tolerance. For Future Researchers, the study will serve as a reference to further improve art

as therapy on the emotional well-being of an individual whose experiencing heartbreak.

Scope and Delimitation

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THE EFFECT OF ART THERAPY ON THE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF MALE IABF FEU STUDENTS
WHO ARE EXPERIENCING HEARTBREAK

The researchers will focus mainly on how art therapy affects the emotional well-being of

an individual experiencing heartbreak. The researchers will choose 30 male participants who

specifically experienced or currently experiencing heartbreak.

The focus of the researchers will also be on the efficiency of art therapy. The researchers

will also analyze accordingly the art to suit the study. The art used by the researchers will serve

as a representation of the emotions felt by the participants.

Definition of Terms

Art Therapy – ​Therapeutic intervention involving painting, drawing, or modelling in order to

express one’s feelings and thoughts

Emotional Well-Being –​ Indicates an individual’s emotional threshold in order to function

in the society and meet the demands of everyday life.

Heartbreak – ​An emotional state wherein a person experiences pain causing the person to be

physically and emotionally drained.

Clay Molding – ​A type of art used create sculptures. This method is commonly used in pots,

vases, and jars.

Freestyle Drawing – ​A type of art wherein an individual has freedom in expressing their

feelings and thoughts through drawing.

Mandala Painting – ​A type of abstract painting that follows a circular pattern unlike the usual

abstract painting that allows an individual to freely express themselves without following

a certain pattern.

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THE EFFECT OF ART THERAPY ON THE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF MALE IABF FEU STUDENTS
WHO ARE EXPERIENCING HEARTBREAK

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