Painting Therapy as an Adjunctive Treatment for Depression in Older Adults: a Systematic Review

Introduction: Depression is common among those aged 60 years or older. It is often underdiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or mistaken for other medical conditions. Painting can serve as an additional or non-pharmacological therapy to help reduce depressive symptoms in older adults. Painting is an affordable and accessible form of art therapy for people of all ages, including older adults and individuals with various medical conditions. Furthermore, it offers additional benefits by stimulating and improving neurocognitive functions in older adults, ultimately enhancing their self-esteem and overall quality of life. Methods: In this systematic review, studies were identified in the Cochrane, PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, and Google Scholar databases using the keywords “painting therapy” AND “depression” AND “elderly”. Result: After the review, nine articles were included, comprising nine Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) and four non-RCTs. The articles that were published explained the effect of painting as an adjunctive therapy for older adults with depression. These studies also evaluated additional outcomes, including neurocognitive function in older adults. Conclusion: Six articles showed a significant decrease in depression following painting as adjunctive therapy; the other three articles show a decrease in depression, but not significantly. The result may be influenced by the duration of treatment, the therapist’s skill, and other underlying diseases. Painting may be considered as an adjunctive therapy in real life since it is feasible for older adults with depression and shows a positive effect.