The purpose of this study is to see if art therapy is helpful in reducing institutionalized
children's withdrawn actions and anxiety.
The study subject is a single institutionalized child who shows withdrawn symptoms
and anxiety. The art therapy program for the subject consists of total 12 sessions, 1-2
sessions a week, each session lasting 60 minutes. The instruments used for analysis are
K-CBCL as measurement of problematic behavior and K-HTP as drawing test for projection.
The results obtained are as follows.
First, withdrawn actions on K-CBCL of problematic behavior were shown to be reduced from the score of 10 points on pre-test to the score of 2 points on post-test.
Second, the anxiety level on K-CBCL indicates that the child's anxious behavior has been reduced from 6 points on pre-test to 0 point on post-test.
Third, on the projection test of K-HTP, the pre-test drawing exhibits small pictures at
the bottom of the drawing paper to reveal withdrawn symptoms, while the post-test
drawing displays pictures with thorns to show his intentions to protect himself from bad
behavior. Thus, this projection test suggests some improvement on the subject's self
esteem.
Fourth, early changes on behavior show some anxiety not to be able to express himself
properly because of uncomfortableness and passive attitude. Whereas post behavioral
changes show not only that the subject's scope of activity has been widened, but that the
subject's linguistic interaction has been highly ungraded.
Key Words: Art Therapy, Institutionalized Child, Withdrawal, Anxiety