Free Form Creation vs. The Mandala and Their Effects on Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Recreational Therapy Intervention

Abstract

Objective— The objective of this study was to compare free form creation to the mandala and examine their effects on veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).Method— Data for this study was collected from 18 veterans who self-disclosed as being clinically diagnosed with PTSD. Veterans participated in either the creation of an unstructured mandala or coloring of a pre-drawn mandala as interventions, and free form creation as the control group. The PCL-5 was used to detect clinically significant change.Results— All the hypotheses were exposed through analytical and statistical analysis to be the opposite of what was expected. In terms of clinical significance, the free form group was superior over the unstructured mandala, with the pre-drawn mandala most inferior. However, there was no superior intervention individually or among groups related to statistical significance. Limitations and delimitations need to be taken into consideration when interpreting results.Conclusion— The results of this study demonstrated that free form creation delivers clinically significant reduction in the overall symptomology of veterans with PTSD. This thesis supports the theory that creative art modalities, which are free of structural form and autonomous in nature, show promising results as an alternative treatment for veterans with PTSD.