Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsCreating Art Can Reduce Anxiety and Lift MoodCreating Mandalas Can Minimize Symptoms of TraumaColoring Pictures Can Relieve Anxiety, No Drawing Skills NecessaryFinal Thoughts

Table of ContentsView All

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Table of Contents

Creating Art Can Reduce Anxiety and Lift Mood

Creating Mandalas Can Minimize Symptoms of Trauma

Coloring Pictures Can Relieve Anxiety, No Drawing Skills Necessary

Final Thoughts

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Art therapy has been widely practiced for many years, both formally in a therapeutic context and informally among those who feel better when they draw.

Decades ago, psychologist Carl Jung recommended coloringmandalas(circular designs that can contain intricate patterns or symbols) as a therapeutic intervention to promote psychological health, as he perceived that drawing mandalas had a calming effect on his patients while facilitating their processing of thoughts and emotions.

Since then, art therapists have long recommended this practice and reported positive results, though research did not demonstrate these results until later. While there is still room for many more studies on mandalas and drawing, in general, several studies have already shown us some important information about the effectiveness of using art for stress relief.Here are some of the most telling findings.

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One study from researchers Chloe Bell and Steven Robbins had 50 random adults ages 30 and under assigned to either create artwork or sort a series of art prints.Before either group was asked to do anything art-related, they were asked to engage in the mild stressor of creating a 10-item to-do list of their “most pressing concerns and worries.”

Then, they were given assessments of their moods and anxiety levels. Finally, one group was provided paper, colored pencils, charcoal pencils, and oil pastels, as well as 20 minutes to create art. The second group was given a stack of 60 art prints and the instructions to sort them “based on their pictorial content” for the next 20 minutes.

Both of these activities would expose the subjects to art, but only the first group was involved in the creative expression.

After three measures of negative mood and anxiety were collected before and after each intervention, the results showed that the group who created artwork experienced significantly greater reductions in negative mood and anxiety compared with the art-sorting group. This showed that the mere act of creating art can significantly minimize negative mood and anxiety, some of thenegative effects of stress.

The Best Online Therapy for Anxiety, Tried and Tested

Those who had drawn mandalas showed a decrease insymptoms of traumaat a one-month follow-up, whereas those who drew an object did not.

What Happens to You After a Traumatic Experience

Also, in this study, participants were asked to create their own mandalas using symbols that represented their feelings or emotions related to their trauma as part of the design rather than coloring in previously created mandalas. Because of this, there might be some added element of catharsis here. However, the act of coloring mandalas is similar in that the choice of colors and the calming act of coloring are the same.

The Best Online Trauma Therapy, Tried and Tested

The practice of coloring mandala drawings has been shown to reduce anxiety levels significantly.

The researchers measured anxiety levels both before and after the drawing activities and found significant reductions in stress in the coloring groups.They observed that those in the free-drawing condition seemed to pause to think about what to draw, and some appeared to struggle with the open-endedness of the drawing assignment; perhaps there were too many choices with free drawing, where mandala drawing allowed for more concentration, focus, andpresent-mindedness.

Sometimes havingtoo many choices can be stressfulin itself, even if the choices are relatively insignificant.

This study is particularly relevant for those who aren’t entirely comfortable with their artistic abilities, but enjoy doodling and coloring (which is a large group!), and lends support for thestress relief coloring booksthat have become increasingly popular among adults.

The good news is if you’ve ever wondered if taking a few minutes to draw a picture can actually help with stress, now you know it can. (Perhaps that’s why many of us instinctively doodle on the sides of our to-do lists, or why teens often draw pictures in class.)

If you’ve wondered if a stress relief coloring book is worth a try (as I had), it appears they can be helpful, as the mandalas used in the third study were very similar to those in mandala coloring books sold in popular bookstores.

What This Means For YouSimply creating something you find to be beautiful or that expresses your emotions can be helpful, so let your inner child loose and get out those colored pencils! Try someart activities that can relieve stress.

What This Means For You

Simply creating something you find to be beautiful or that expresses your emotions can be helpful, so let your inner child loose and get out those colored pencils! Try someart activities that can relieve stress.

What Is Acute Stress?

4 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Carsley D, Heath N.Effectiveness of mindfulness-based colouring for test anxiety in adolescents.Sch Psychol Int. 2018;39(3):251-272. doi:10.1177/0143034318773523Bell, Chloe E.; Robbins, Steven J.Effect of art production on negative mood: A randomized, controlled trial.Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association.2007;v24 (2), 71-75.Henderson P, Rosen D, Mascaro N.Empirical study on the healing nature of mandalas.Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. 2007;1(3):148-154. doi:10.1037/1931-3896.1.3.148van der Vennet R, Serice S.Can coloring mandalas reduce anxiety? A replication study.Art Therapy. 2012;29(2):87-92. doi:10.1080/07421656.2012.680047

4 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Carsley D, Heath N.Effectiveness of mindfulness-based colouring for test anxiety in adolescents.Sch Psychol Int. 2018;39(3):251-272. doi:10.1177/0143034318773523Bell, Chloe E.; Robbins, Steven J.Effect of art production on negative mood: A randomized, controlled trial.Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association.2007;v24 (2), 71-75.Henderson P, Rosen D, Mascaro N.Empirical study on the healing nature of mandalas.Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. 2007;1(3):148-154. doi:10.1037/1931-3896.1.3.148van der Vennet R, Serice S.Can coloring mandalas reduce anxiety? A replication study.Art Therapy. 2012;29(2):87-92. doi:10.1080/07421656.2012.680047

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Carsley D, Heath N.Effectiveness of mindfulness-based colouring for test anxiety in adolescents.Sch Psychol Int. 2018;39(3):251-272. doi:10.1177/0143034318773523Bell, Chloe E.; Robbins, Steven J.Effect of art production on negative mood: A randomized, controlled trial.Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association.2007;v24 (2), 71-75.Henderson P, Rosen D, Mascaro N.Empirical study on the healing nature of mandalas.Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. 2007;1(3):148-154. doi:10.1037/1931-3896.1.3.148van der Vennet R, Serice S.Can coloring mandalas reduce anxiety? A replication study.Art Therapy. 2012;29(2):87-92. doi:10.1080/07421656.2012.680047

Carsley D, Heath N.Effectiveness of mindfulness-based colouring for test anxiety in adolescents.Sch Psychol Int. 2018;39(3):251-272. doi:10.1177/0143034318773523

Bell, Chloe E.; Robbins, Steven J.Effect of art production on negative mood: A randomized, controlled trial.Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association.2007;v24 (2), 71-75.

Henderson P, Rosen D, Mascaro N.Empirical study on the healing nature of mandalas.Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. 2007;1(3):148-154. doi:10.1037/1931-3896.1.3.148

van der Vennet R, Serice S.Can coloring mandalas reduce anxiety? A replication study.Art Therapy. 2012;29(2):87-92. doi:10.1080/07421656.2012.680047

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