Effects of group art therapy combined with breath meditation on the subjective well-being of depressed and anxious adolescents

• A case study of depressed and anxious adolescents.
• Effects of group art therapy.
• Promotion of subjective well-being.
• Concurrent implementation of breath meditation.
• Voluntary participation from subjects.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of group art therapy, including breath meditation, on the subjective well-being of depressed and anxious youngsters. The subjects were 24 first-grade students at high school in a urban city (Daegu) of South Korea. The art therapy program was implemented in 13, 80-min sessions, held once or twice a week from September 28, 2010 to February 2011. The study tool was the subjective well-being scale of Han (1997), which was adapted from the subjective well-being scale of Campbell, Converse, and Rodgers (1976). The data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 18.0. To determine the homogeneity of the pre-test results, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed. To analyze effect of subjective well-being, two-way repeated measures ANOVA was performed. Scores were significantly higher in experimental group 1 (who experienced art therapy combined with breath meditation) and 2 (who experienced only art therapy), than in the control group (who received no therapy). Scores were significantly higher in group 1 than in group 2. The results were the same in the follow-up test, which indicated the durability of the effects.