وضعیت تحقیقات شعر درمانی (بررسی)

The goal of this article is to give an overview of the state of poetry therapy research, thus offering a basis for designing and carrying out optimized study projects and contributing to the further establishment of poetry therapy. Database research was carried out using Amed, Cochrane, Embase, Medline, Psycinfo and Psyindex. The search words used were ‘poetry therapy’, ‘therapeutic writing’ and ‘writing therapy’. The studies were classified according to country, subject, publication date and level of evidence-based medicine. A total of 1129 entries were found, 203 of which were used for this analysis. The majority of the studies were conducted in the United States in the fields of psychiatry and psychology. Investigative activities reached the highest levels in the period from 1999 to 2010. Most of the studies corresponded to level 5 on the scale of evidence-based medicine. The findings show that poetry therapy is already more established and documented in the United States than in other countries. The greatest amount of experience has been collected in the fields of psychiatry and psychology. Studies in other areas (e.g. oncology), however, point to future ranges of application. The rising levels of interest over the past 10 years in poetry therapy and its scientific establishment have encouraged additional research projects for which appropriate evaluation methods need to be developed.

Different forms of expressive art therapies originate from and are influenced by the natural sciences, social sciences and aesthetics. Music, dance, rituals and the artistic use of images and words have provided individuals as well as groups with orientation and counsel across all cultural epochs from the past up to the present day. Expressive art therapies not only represent cognitive therapeutic starting points, but also emotional and action-oriented ones. Over the course of history in psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy, special education and increasingly in the case of acute and chronic physical illness, these complementary forms of therapy have become a therapeutic option that can no longer be disregarded. For several decades, the various types of expressive art therapies – ranging from music therapy to fine arts therapies and from dance movement therapy to drama, language, poetry and bibliotherapy – have taken on an increasingly essential role in the therapy options of many medical institutions (Aldridge, Gruber, Kunzmann, & Weis, 2002).

Most experience with poetry therapy has been collected in the fields of psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychology and their specific branches (adult psychiatry, child psychiatry, family therapy); it has also been applied in the treatment of various mental disorders such as anxiety disorders, depression and schizophrenia, as this research may suggest (Carr, 1999, Freire et al., 2005, Lovell et al., 1994 and Miller, 1978). Research in other areas, however, such as the care of elderly and terminally ill patients as well as the application of poetry therapy in social and socio-cultural situations points to poetry therapy becoming established in a growing number of contexts (Asner-Self and Feyissa, 2002, Gardner, 2006, Mazza, 1996, Petzold, 1982 and Robinson, 2004).