"The purpose of this study is to verify the effect of Mandala group art therapy on schizophrenes’ self-esteem. The subject of this study is randomly organized 20 schizophrenes who are over 40 years old and get hospital treatment in K mental hospital located in Kyung-Ki Do. Half of them were organized as experimental group, the other half as control group. The experimental group of 10 schizophrenes participated in Mandala group art therapy program, which was implemented for 90 minutes a week from 8th of June 2009 to 26th of October 2009. The self-esteem test and HTP test were conducted on experimental group and control group before and after the program, and were analyzed quantitatively. In addition, all sessions were analyzed qualitatively. Firstly, as for the effect of Mandala group art therapy on schizophrenes’ self-esteem, the higher the score of self-esteem in the post-test of Self Esteem Inventory test is, the more significant changes there were in self-esteem between the pre-test and the post-test of Self Esteem Inventory test. Secondly, there were important variations in self-esteem between the pre-test and the post-test of HTP test, as the schizophrenic self indicator score in the post-test of HTP test decreased. In addition, qualitative analysis of HTP test of experimental group showed meaningful changes related to self-esteem. Thirdly, there were significant changes in self-esteem of schizophrenes, according to the analysis of the changes of drawings in Mandala group art therapy sessions and of observation of behaviors. This result is because unrestricted expression and spontaneous imagination by Mandala enabled schizophrenes to express pessimistic emotions and to find internal energy, and eventually led to improve their self-esteem.
Key Words : Mandala Group Art Therapy, Shizophrenes' Self-Esteem"