An Exploration Of The Application Of Art Therapy In Group Training And Counseling Of College Students

As early as in ancient times, our ancestors had already used their not stupid drawing skills to portray mood and to convey the messages of life. On the mottled walls of caves or the funerary china and gallipots in the graves of the rich or the sheepskins of thousands of years, the treasures of human beings are all saying something. The emotion and the wisdom in which make people exclaim and yearn.However, the scientific art therapy was only about 60 years old. In China it's still in the underway stage and usually used in iatric organs and seldom in colleges. On the other hand, the need of counseling of college students is increased rapidly, and the art therapy itself is also need to be more developed. Under the direction of the formal researches and the powerful charm of art therapy, this study attempts to explore the applicability and characteristics of art therapy in group train and counseling of college students through group research and case studies.In the research of literatures, the studies including the definition, phylogeny, academic base and mechanism, implementation process, theory schools, the present research situation both in and out of country, the crowd in point and characters are summarized and reviewed. The research of theories lays the foundation for practical application. It also impulses the art therapy to be deeper developed and consummated.The group research uses experimental-control group pre-experiment and after-experiment test design. 14 college students are recruited as subjects, and are divided into experimental group and control group randomly. The group counseling is held twice a week for 1.5 hours per session, and 8 times in total. It uses questionnaires combined with interviews to inspect the effects. As the results indicate, art group therapy can deepen the understanding of oneself, self-acceptance can be furthered, self-harmony can be reinforced, self-esteem can be heightened. The growth of personality can be hastened and the mental health can be advanced in whole. Besides, the applicability and characteristics of art group therapy are also summed up.The case study presents three reports including lovelorn problem, maladjustment and self-growth which are all met in counseling regularly. Segments of the first two cases are presents in order to show the special function of art therapy. The whole process of the last case is presented to show the use of art therapy in counseling. The case study indicates that art therapy can effectively deal with ordinary psychological puzzles of college students. Besides, the application of art therapy in counseling is also rethought and summed up.Finally, the results of the above study are discussed. The conclusion of art therapy in group training and counseling of college students is discussed. Feasible suggestions and research plans in the future are also pointed out.