The relationship of emotion regulation, schema modes, and three creative arts therapy methods in schema-focused treatment for personality disorders : a single case experimental design

Difficulties in emotion regulation (ER) are highly prevalent in personality disorders (PDs). Literature suggests that it might benefit from additional treatment options, such as creative arts therapies (CATs). To date, previous research has mostly explored the effects of CATs by using a single method, such as only art therapy or dramatherapy. Only little research compared different CATs methods or studied their effects together. This study investigated how the relationship between a mixed CATs treatment and ER impacted PD patients, and how mixed CATs treatment for ER impacted the use of schema modes. To examine this, 11 participants underwent schema focused treatment with an additional ER-module comprising three CAT-methods (dramatherapy, art therapy, and psychomotor therapy) and filled in the SERATS and DERS questionnaires for ER and the SMI-2 for schema modes. It was expected that emotion regulation would improve after the CATs treatment and that adaptive schema modes would increase, while maladaptive schema modes would decrease. The results confirmed these hypotheses, giving first insights into the application of mixed CATs treatment. Further, the relationships were impacted by the occurrence of crises, the treatment length, and the nature of the post-treatment. Future research could develop more mixed CATs treatments with a different set of CATs, assess the therapeutic relationship in more detail, and apply the present treatment to different mental disorders.