Serial Research Of Mandala Drawing's Influence On Undergraduate Students' Social Anxiety

Since Junge has developed mandala drawing into an effective tool for psychoanalysis and treatment,mandala drawing has become an important mean for meditation,that copes with stress and anxiety.However,scientific research and experimental verification of the practical effects of such therapy are still relatively rare.On the other hand,related researches show that social anxiety has been the forefront psychological problems of undergraduate students,and the traditional psychological intervention with verbal counseling has little effects.The purpose of this research was to investigate whether the mandala drawing can and why it can help to ease and reduce the social anxiety of undergraduate students,which according to adopt the scientific experimental methods system,then put forward clinical practice schemes for the intervention of undergraduate students' social anxiety based on the results of related researches,to test its effectiveness.Preliminary research on the current social anxiety of undergraduate students conducted a survey,which analyzed the differences of demographic variables in order to reveal the current status of social anxiety of undergraduate students and screened out the participants used in the follow-up experiments.The first research explored the influence of mandala drawing on undergraduate students from two angles,using social undergraduate students as subjects by means of scale measurement and physiological arousal.Experiment 1 using the psychological scale compared the effects of mandala drawing with free drawing on social anxiety by using 2(drawing type: mandala drawing vs.free drawing)x 2(measuring time: pretest vs.after test)of the two factors mixed experimental design.Experiment 2 using MP150 MindWare compared the effects of mandala drawing with square drawing on social anxiety by using 2(drawing type: mandala drawing vs.square drawing)x 3(measuring time: baseline measurement vs.pretest vs.after test)of two factors mixed experimental design.The results showed that mandala drawing was more effective than free drawing to reduce the anxiety level of social anxiety of undergraduate students and improve their self-esteem and self-acceptance level;mandala drawing was more effective to reduce the anxiety level of undergraduate students through physiological arousal than square drawing;the circle of mandala drawing was an important element in reducing the social anxiety of undergraduate students.The second research tried to answer why the mandala drawing could help alleviate social anxiety.Experiment 3 which referenced Stroop paradigm discussed whether the mandala drawing was helping to suppress the processing of negative stimulus by using the single factor(stimulus type: mandala drawing stimulus vs.neutral stimulus)subjects in experimental design.Experiment 4 which referenced dot-probe task paradigm,discussed the regulation of mandala drawing to the attentional bias on negative stimulus by using 2(stimulus type: mandala drawing stimulus vs.neutral stimulus)x 2(present time: 500 ms vs.1000ms)of the subjects in experimental design.Experiment 5 referenced affective priming and dot-probe task paradigm,discussed the affective priming of mandala drawing to the influence of the attentional bias by using the single factor(start: mandala drawing stimulus vs.neutral stimulus)subjects in experimental design.The results showed that mandala drawing can effectively inhibit the processing of negative stimulus by social anxiety undergraduate students;undergraduate students with social anxiety showed greater attentional bias under the condition of 1000 ms stimulus presentation compared with the condition of 500ms;mandala drawing could effectively reduce the attentional bias of social anxiety undergraduate students to negative stimulus;the affective priming of mandala drawing could significantly reduce the attentional bias of social anxiety undergraduate students to negative stimulus compared with the affective priming of neutral stimulus.The third research conducted three different clinical intervention programs—mandala drawing attentional bias training,mandala drawing of group psychology counseling and mandala drawing case psychological counseling—and examined its effect,basing on the results of above researches.Experiment 6 which used attention bias training of mandala drawing intervened the social anxiety of undergraduate students by using 2(category: training group vs.control group)x 2(measuring time: training before vs.training after)mixed experimental design of two factors.Experiment 7 which used mandala drawing of group psychology counseling intervened the social anxiety of undergraduate students used by using 2(category: mandala drawing of group psychology counseling vs.control group)x 2(before and after the intervention: intervention before vs.after intervention)mixed experimental design of two factors.Experiment 8 which used mandala drawing case psychological counseling intervened the social anxiety of a female undergraduate student.The results showed that the attention bias training of mandala drawing decreased the negative attentional bias score of social anxiety undergraduate students,and decreased their attention bias to negative stimulus;the rapid positioning ability to negative stimulus of social anxiety undergraduate students was not influenced by the attentional training of mandala drawing;the attention relief ability of social anxiety undergraduate students on negative stimulus was significantly decreased after the attention bias training of mandala drawing;the attentional bias training of mandala drawing not only alleviated the negative emotion of social anxiety undergraduate students,but also improved their positive emotion more after training.Mandala drawing of group psychology counseling could help group members to experience,relief,reflection,deny,sort,and rebuild emotions that are repressed by verbal words,and could alleviate social anxiety,inspired subconscious creativity,reshaped self-esteem and self-confidence in the process of mandala drawing.Mandala drawing case psychological counseling could help visitors to go deep into the subconscious,deal with emotional distress,repair of heart trauma,realize the integration of self and promote the positive self-evaluation,alleviate social anxiety,enhance the level of self-esteem and self-acceptance.This research not only systematically detected the mandala drawing influence on social anxiety of undergraduate students from different angles by using science research paradigm,but also innovated in developing a series of clinical intervention plans for undergraduate students' social anxiety,including mandala drawing attention bias training,mandala drawing of group psychology counseling and mandala drawing case psychological counseling.It enriches and deepens the research field of mandala drawing and social anxiety,provided certain theoretical guidance and scientific basis for clinical intervention of social anxiety.