Art Therapy and Infertility

In response to the lack of attention to mental health aspects of infertility, this multiple case pilot study investigated the impact of art therapy interventions on depressive symptoms in women diagnosed with infertility. Since literature indicates women experience significant distress that impacts their psychological well-being and contributes to depressive symptoms. Furthermore the literature indicated that since infertility is regarded as a low-control situation, women tend to employ avoidance, repression, and denial as their primary coping mechanisms to deal with their negative emotions. As the utilization of art therapy has been found to contribute to decreasing depressive symptoms, it was hypothesized that an art therapy intervention would decrease levels of depression symptoms in this population. To test this hypothesis, a mix method study design was implemented in which the participants engaged in six individual art therapy sessions. The Beck Depression Inventory - II (BDI-II) and a qualitative interview were used as pre-test and post-test measures. Two women participated in the study and engaged in individual art therapy sessions. The pre-test and post-test data from the BDI-II were compared and the qualitative interview was used to gain further insight into the full experience. Following the intervention, the levels of depression among the participants had decreased. The participants also indicated several positive themes in their interview.