Art Therapy and Emotional Well Being in Military Populations With Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Art therapy is used across the Military Health System for treatment of posttraumatic symptoms, but there is limited research on how art therapy is able to restore emotional expression and regulation in service members. This research hopes to learn about the effects of art therapy on emotional expression and regulation in service members as well as the neurological systems at work. If a participant chooses to be in this study, he or she will attend eleven sessions over a period of six to eight months. The first session will be an interview and self-assessment questionnaires to collect information on a variety of symptoms, experiences, and personality traits, and an MRI scan. During the MRI scan, participants will be asked to perform a task where they will be shown a series of neutral and negative images. The following eight sessions will be one-hour art therapy sessions with a certified art therapist. The tenth session will consist of the same self-assessment questionnaires and another MRI scan. The final session will consist of some of the same questionnaires from the tenth visit, as well as a qualitative interview done virtually three months after the tenth visit.

NCT Number	NCT05414708
Lead Sponsor	Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Collaborators: University of Pennsylvania, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine
Conditions	PTSD, Military Activity, Post-Traumatic Headache, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Delayed Onset, Sleep Disturbance, Nightmare, Irritable Mood +7 more
Enrollment	40 participants
Start Date	2022-02-01
Primary Completion	2026-12 (estimated)
Study Completion	2027-12 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-01-08