Table 4:
Components of Mindfulness Based Art Therapy Intervention and their Mechanisms.
| Mindfulness meditation | Probable mechanism |
|---|---|
| Body scan (moving attention systematically from toes to head) | •Reduces pain related distress[34] • Helps in relaxation[34] |
| Non-judgmental awareness of the physical sensations | • Makes the sensation less frightening and less overwhelming[35] |
| Awareness of breathing | • Enhances the parasympathetic nervous system that is associated with calm, rest, and repair[36] |
| Non-judgmental awareness of thoughts and emotions | • Seeing things in a different perspective helps to observe habitual reactions and gives more control and choice to act in a more adaptive way[38] |
| Non-striving and acceptance of reality | • Prevents worry about the future and ruminating thoughts of past events[37] • Allows to live more fully in the present moment, regardless of what lies ahead[37] • Helps to alleviate the suffering that is often accompanied by pain or emotional discomfort[35] |
| Mindful Art | Probable Mechanism |
| Mindful exploration while art making with an awareness of sensory stimulus and response | • Relaxing and calming effect • Takes awareness away from the habitual thinking mind, towards heightened feeling and sensing • Promotes the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system[13] |
| Exploring present moment experiences | • Facilitates an experience of immersion, flow, focus and calm, accessing an inner witness and being absorbed in present-moment experience[39] |
| Art making with kindness, curiosity and non-judgment | • Helps to reconstruct meanings • Helps to minimize over identification with illness • Helps to negotiate experiences and life events on own terms[14] |
| Coloring | • Coloring induces a mindful or meditative state[23,24] • Reduces activity in the amygdala[40] • Changes brain waves activity[41] |
| Coloring complex geometric forms | • Facilitates a meditative-like state that helps reduce anxiety[24] • Helps to suspend the “inner dialogue” • Helps to deeply engage in the activity • Distracts from the negative thought patterns and emotions[24] |