ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychological Therapy and Psychosomatics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1512565
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovations in the assessment and treatment of TBI and co-occurring conditions in military connected populationsView all 7 articles
Art Therapy with an African American Female Combat Veteran Experiencing Effects of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress
Provisionally accepted
- 1Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, United States
- 2Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network, Washington, DC, United States
- 3Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, United States
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This retrospective case study explored the use of art therapy (AT) with an African American female combat veteran experiencing the effects of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) and co-occurring PTSD. The study aims to understand how culturally informed military AT functions in treatment of a female service member with mTBI and PTSD. Qualitative data were collected from artwork, case notes, and therapist’s clinical reflections. Quantitative data were collected from the Emotion Regulation Strategies for Artistic Creative Activities Scale (ERS-ACA). Thematic analysis and ERS-ACA results revealed several themes. The results illustrated that art therapy supported the client to express her needs, strengths and treatment progress; facilitated emotional expression; supported the expression of cultural identity; and provided a method for communicating her needs to others outside of art therapy sessions. This case study underscores the potential for utilizing standardized art therapy treatment methods to benefit military-connected individuals with similar conditions.
Keywords: female service members, mild traumatic brain injury, Art Therapy, Combat trauma, PTSD - Posttraumatic stress disorder
Received: 23 Oct 2024; Accepted: 16 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chilton, DeLucia and Tompkins. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Gioia Connell Chilton, Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, United States
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