OOIR: Observatory of International Research

Papers

(The TQCC of Arts in Psychotherapy is 3. The table below lists those papers that are above that threshold based on CrossRef citation counts [max. 250 papers]. The publications cover those that have been published in the past four years, i.e., from 2021-04-01 to 2025-04-01.)

Article	Citations
Increased functional connectivity in military service members presenting a psychological closure and healing theme in art therapy masks	28
Arts psychotherapies for adolescents with mental health difficulties: A systematic review and logic model of mechanisms of action and outcomes	22
Psychological flexibility in art therapy: Practice-based research	21
The role of puppetry in mental health promotion: A scoping review of its efficacy and applications	16
Aesthetic distance: Conceptualization and practical use	16
Your life within me: Exploring a visual art journal group intervention for women who experienced stillbirth	15
Guidelines for art-based interventions in parental training	14
Music in the practice of dance/movement therapy	13
Art therapy for chemsex: A pilot study of representations of memories among this subset of self-identified gay men as expressed in gouache painting	13
Intersectional care ethics in art therapy organizations	13
Outcomes and experiences of an online Balance-Space music therapy intervention for cancer patients: A mixed methods study	13
“Some small worm is chewing my stomach”: Chronic pain in movement and narratives, a cross-sectional study	12
Music in the moment: The use of a musical intervention to impact state experiences	12
Breast cancer surgery as expressed in self figure drawings	11
“It just gives people hope”: A qualitative inquiry into the lived experience of the Harry Potter world in mental health recovery	11
Reliability and short version of the Dunphy Outcomes Framework (DOF): Integrating the art and science of dance movement therapy	11
Practicing in an expanded paradigm: Case examples and ethical anchors for creative arts therapists working in community-based social justice contexts	11
Expressive arts therapy: A profession in a “wild zone”	10
“Can I really be authentic?” A co-created critical autoethnography on whiteness in dance/movement therapy education	9
Aesthetic mutuality: A mechanism of change in the creative arts therapies as applied to dance/movement therapy	9
Do children’s family drawings reflect adaptation in early years of elementary school?	8
Relationship between the therapeutic alliance, clients' reactions to artistic work and outcomes of arts therapies with ultra-orthodox 4–15 year olds	8
The effects of sandplay therapy on the limbic system and prefrontal cortex in women with generalized anxiety disorder	8
Problem-solving expressions in preschool children’s "Person Picking an Apple from a Tree" drawings and verbal narratives	8
Editorial Board	8

The art of mentalizing: A mentalization-based art initiative with homeless people within a psychologically informed environment	8
Assessing dance movement therapy in Chinese undergraduates with depression and anxiety: An initial randomized controlled trial	7
Modified amusement park technique with a SUD population in a residential setting	7
Editorial Board	7
Beneficial and harmful music for substance use disorder clients: Implementation of the musical presentation technique	7
Companioning artmaking: Creating art alongside clients in group art therapy	7
A mixed methods exploration of a pilot photo-reflection intervention for enhancing coping and well-being during COVID-19	7
Psychological symptoms and the use of shadow miniatures in sandplay therapy	6
The experience of school-based dramatherapists: Understanding the barriers and facilitators of UK school-based dramatherapy to inform better implementation	6
Child-focused outcome and process evaluation of a school-based art therapy intervention: A pilot randomised controlled study	6
Mentalization and drama therapy	6
The use of music therapy to address psychosocial needs of informal caregivers: An integrative review	6
“We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows”: Art therapists' perspectives on dealing with secrets in therapy	6
Clarifying the Creative level of the Expressive Therapies Continuum: A different dimension	6
Evaluating a continuing professional development course on cognitive functions for Music Therapists working in care homes	6
The influence of art material and instruction during art making on brain activity: A quantitative electroencephalogram study	6
Therapist perceived active ingredients of school-based dramatherapy for children and young people with emotional distress	6
Process evaluation of an art therapeutic treatment for children and adolescents with psychosocial problems	6
“A springboard back to life”: The voices of people with mental health conditions on the process and outcomes of a pre-academic arts program	5
Cooking therapy in the creative arts therapy theoretical context: Conceptual validation and practical guidelines	5
Effectiveness of art therapy for people with eating disorders: A mixed methods systematic review	5
Forcibly displaced adults' perspectives on change mechanisms after a resilience-building art therapy intervention	5
Proposing a justice approach to Ethics of Care in art psychotherapy	5
Playback Theatre: Group, stories, and stage as elements of change	5
Music therapy and anhedonia: A case study	5
A proposed Critical Theory of Music Vilification to explain “problem music”	5
Reducing the burden of care: Effect of art and dance therapy on Parkinson’s disease patients’ caregivers	5
Open studio therapeutic aspects as experienced by adolescents in a psychiatric day treatment unit: A qualitative analysis	5
A year later: The pain protocol study findings and memory reconsolidation factors	5
Editorial Board	5
Promoting kindergarten readiness using early intervention art therapy with Latinx farmworker children	5
Art therapy in mitigating pervasive loss and grief within correctional settings	5
A mixed-methods study on psychodrama treatment for PTSD and depression in inpatient substance use treatment: A comparison of outcomes pre-pandemic and during Covid-19	5
Group music therapy for Chinese doctoral student mothers in Korea: A qualitative case study	5
Shifting Ethics of Care in Hong Kong	5
Editorial Board	4
Exploring Art Hives: Implications of virtual art studio communities on positive and negative affect	4
Analysis of the body of literature based on a new drama therapy literature database	4
“Time for Tony the Turtle”: Experiences with the use of a hand puppet in a program for young children in domestic violence shelters	4
Regulatory effect of drawing on negative emotion: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study	4
Art therapy for children following adverse childhood experiences: An intervention development study	4
South Korean art therapists’ roundtable discussion on racism and ethnic discrimination: An arts-based inquiry	4
Joint drawings as a tool for observing couple relationships: Development of the, Couples’ Closeness-Distance Scale (CCDS)	4
Effects of music therapy on the subjective well-being of women with fibromyalgia: A quasi-experimental study	4
Playback Theatre applications: A systematic review of literature	4
Body-speak: Poetic intervention for adult survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) – An autoethnographic approach	4
Emerging wisdom through a traditional bon dance in group dance/movement therapy: A single case study of dementia	4
The Spiritual Experience of Sufi Whirling Dervishes: Rising Above the Separation and Duality of This World	4
Joint music sessions, parents, and their lesbian and gay young adult children: Effectiveness on the ‘coming out’ process, relationships, and wellbeing	4
Committing to arts-based palliative and bereavement care: Evaluation of students’ experiences in an online course	4

Art-based emotion regulation in major depression: Framework for intervention	4
Family members’ and other experts’ perceptions of music therapy with children on the autism spectrum in New Zealand: Findings from multiple case studies	4
Art therapy as a treatment for adults with learning disabilities who are experiencing mental distress: A configurative systematic review with narrative synthesis	4
Editorial Board	4
Korean dance/movement therapists’ clinical experiences working with individuals with developmental disabilities: Phenomenological study	4
Integrating the embodiment-projection-role paradigm to develop and implement a two-hour-workshop for stress management among nurses	3
Identity development of Arab drama therapists: The role of ethnic boundary work	3
Analysis of the type of imagery and imagery themes from Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) sessions with adults in chemical dependency treatment	3
Understanding how humour enables contact in music therapy relationships with persons living with dementia: A phenomenological arts-based reflexive study	3
Feasibility of the Musical Contour Regulation Facilitation (MCRF) intervention to promote emotion regulation for under-resourced preschoolers: Examining intervention intensity	3
How art-as-therapy supports participants with a diagnosis of schizophrenia: A phenomenological lifeworld investigation	3
Music improvisation enhances neutral verbal and visual memory in musicians and non-musicians alike	3
Effectiveness of group art therapy for mothers of children with disabilities	3
The effects of psychodrama on the emotional awareness and communication skills of psychiatric nurses: A randomized controlled trial	3
Trends in dance/movement therapy research: A bibliometric analysis of publications in the scopus bibliographic and citation information database	3
Power to move through: A heuristic self-inquiry of dance movement processing within guided imagery and music	3
Identifying the mechanisms of poetry therapy and associated effects on participants: A synthesised review of empirical literature	3
Art therapists’ fear of COVID-19, subjective well-being, and mindfulness	3
“Attentive to their drawing”: A pilot study of the implications of a single session mindfulness-based art therapy intervention on early childhood assistants	3
Effect of Music on a Mindfulness Experience: An Online Study	3
What does the literature teach us about research, theory, and the practice of art therapy for individuals with intellectual developmental disabilities? A scoping review	3
Anti-oppressive pedagogy in dance/movement therapy education: Embodied experiences of black, indigenous, and students of color	3
Arts-based supervision training for creative arts therapists: Perceptions and implications	3
Creating an art therapy research strategic plan: A community participatory approach	3
The perceived benefits of Dance Movement Therapy for parents of a child on the autism spectrum: A pilot study	3
The expressive therapies continuum and mentalization-based art therapy for individuals diagnosed with a cluster B/C personality disorder: A successful marriage!	3
Effectiveness of group psychodrama on aggression and social anxiety of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A randomized clinical trial	3
Explanatory sequential descriptive analysis of music therapists’ clinical practice for individuals with eating disorders	3
Future time perspectives of older adults as reflected through digital photocollage	3
Psychodrama oriented group therapy for forgiveness in university students	3