Photography as a tool in Mental Health Research and Intervention

The intersection of visual arts and mental health has gained increasing recognition, with photography emerging as a promising instrument for both research and clinical practice. There has been growing interest in modalities such as photo-voice, therapeutic photography, and participatory visual storytelling within psychiatry and mental health care. Despite this progress, questions remain about the mechanisms by which photography supports emotional expression, self-understanding, and social connection, particularly among patients with depressive, anxiety, trauma-related, and adjustment disorders, including those with psychiatric comorbidity in the context of chronic illness and substance use disorders.

While recent research has highlighted that visual self-expression can facilitate communication and empowerment in therapeutic settings, we still lack a complete understanding of these practices, and their effectiveness is still developing. There are also questions around ethical considerations, patient agency, and the role of visual evidence. This Research Topic aims to critically examine and advance the use of photography, both as a participatory and analytic tool, in psychiatry and mental health care. The goal is to investigate how photographic practices can support self-exploration, foster dialogue between patients and clinicians.

The scope of this Research Topic encompasses original research, reviews, theoretical discussions, and case studies addressing photographic interventions in psychiatry and mental health but does not include unrelated uses of visual media outside therapeutic or clinical contexts. We welcome both submissions focused on the use of photography alone or in combination with other methods. To gather further insights into these phenomena, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Implementation and assessment of photo-voice in psychiatric and mental health settings, including outpatient clinics and community mental health services.
- Therapeutic photography for individuals and groups living with depressive, anxiety, trauma-related, or adjustment disorders.
- Visual storytelling and its impact on mental health.
- The use of photography alone or in combination with other methods.
- Photography-based approaches in psycho-oncology and consultation-liaison psychiatry.
- Photographic interventions in the treatment of substance use disorders, anxiety and depression.
- Cultural considerations in photographic mental health interventions.
- Ethical and methodological challenges in photography-based research involving psychiatric populations.
- Technology-assisted photographic interventions (e.g., digital storytelling, voice-photo) and their integration with digital mental health and telepsychiatry.
- Case studies illustrating outcomes and best practices in photographic therapy.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review

Keywords: photography, mental health, therapeutic, visual storytelling, photo voice

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.