Combat Trauma Art Therapy Scale

This study correlated an art therapy descriptive technique originally applied to adolescent burn victims with adult combat-related victims in an effort to identify art themes and graphic elements associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. The designed rating instrument, referred to as the Combat Trauma Art Therapy Scale (CTATS), consisted of 62 items aimed to detect common themes associated with war time experiences. Using the CTAS, raters examined 158 pictures, with depictions of women, violence, and combat interwoven, suggesting an ongoing struggle to cope with the emotional aftermath of recent traumatic experiences.