Applied Project & Research Article Prospectus

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Research Article Topics

• Meta-analysis: Who benefits the most from expressive therapies in comparison to other forms of therapy?

• Meta-analysis: How is viewing visual art, listening to music, and reading poetry processed in the brain? Do any promote stress relief, which one is most effective, or does it depend upon the individual?

• Meta-analysis: Are those who are mentally ill more creative? Or are we romanticizing mental illness?

• Research Project: How prevalent is stigma amongst art students (Artists are expected to be more empathetic and or understanding

• Meta-analysis:Are the mental health resources available to students adequate? Specifically, art schools

All of the topics I brainstormed relate directly to art and psychology as disciplines,  however, some focus more on one than the other. “I am working on the topic of brain processes because I want to find out how visual art, listening to music, and reading poetry can be perceived in different ways in order to help my reader better understand both if individuals are unique in these processes and if they have positive impacts on stress relief. This topic was interesting to me because I commonly wonder if all forms of art are understood and affect people in the same way cognitively. This would be hard to write about because there may be more research on one art form than another, as far as perception and stress relief. It also involves many variables than may be too focused and confusing to become interested in when reading.

I am working on the topic of creative ability of the mentally ill because I want to find out if there is a correlation or if it is just a misconception that leads to the romanticization of mental illness in order to help my reader better understand how widespread and accepted stereotypes of mental illness are. This by far is the topic I am most interested in, breaking down stigma is very important to me, especially by the means of disproving stereotypes. Though I’m prepared for the research to go either way. The challenges of this topic would be approaching it objectively, but I think with the proper research to analyze I would be able to do so. 

I am studying the topic of mental health resources because I want to find out if universities, specifically, art schools, are providing enough resources for their students in order to help my reader better understand if Universities are minimizing a major problem. This is important to me because I feel that art students can sometimes be under more stress than other majors because of the intensity of the workload and I have heard that some universities are not doing enough for their students as far as mental health resources I would be interested to see if there is an even greater need than there are services available for art schools.

I am working on the topic of stigmatization of mental illness because I want to find out if art students perpetuate more or less stigma than other majors in order to help my reader understand better the prevalence of stigma, even today. This is a topic I’m interested in because I believe there’s a misconception that art students are more sensitive and accepting when they may be less so, or more so. There is a drawback as far as data collection goes, it would be difficult to collect my own data, and know what to compare it too. Also there may not be any research on the subject at all. 

I am working on the topic of expressive therapies because I want to find out if there is one kind of expressive therapy (dance, art, music therapy) that is more effective than the other with specific populations in order to help my reader  understand better which therapies are known to be effective for what conditions. This is also a hard topic to research because there isn’t a lot of research on expressive arts, in part because those educated in expressive types of therapies typically practice therapy, not research.  

Applied Project Ideas

• Create a book/booklet with illustrations, writings, stories etc. in conjunction with information/articles I write on mental illness to reduce stigma. People often empathize with visuals and art forms more than informative writing Also, there are many stereotypical visuals associated with mental illness, so replacing those would be positive. Display at the library and/or do a reading. Do a twice monthly booklet focusing in on one mental illness per booklet.

• Log myself on my eport/Instagram creating a work every week,either video or picture or one smaller work every day, (5-day week) in conjunction with my emotions, along with a caption explaining it, encourage others in some way to do the same. To promote comfortability talking about mental illness.

• Post “bad” sketches, practice, etc. and blog to artists about how to deal with hateful criticism and how to give criticism constructively. My thought behind this is that it would work to combat the high standard of art on social media, this idea of artists only creating “perfect” works can be damaging and affect creativity and confidence in younger artists, which is only exacerbated by negative online feedback, (Might be able to combine with my 2nd idea)

• Post online my own art, writings, drawings, sculpture related to mental illness along with an article explaining the mental illness, once again breaking down stigma by using artistic expression. Reference the art in the writing and encourage the reader to create in their own way

• Book Club for a novel about mental illness, maybe involving art as well, in conjunction with activities related to the book. Making bookmarks etc.