Drawing and Anxiety Study

Summary

Anxiety is among the most common emotional difficulties impacting well-being, highlighting the need for approachable anxiety-reduction tools. Both mindfulness and art-based interventions have been shown to decrease anxiety symptoms. These studies integrate these approaches via a novel guided drawing intervention, and tests effects on anxiety (pre/post drawing and at one-week follow-up) and physiological regulation (respiratory sinus arrhythmia). This registration includes two separate intervention studies with similar protocols but using different samples - one consisting of adolescents ages 13 to 17.9 years, and the other consisting of adults ages 18 to 25 years. Participants complete a laboratory visit during which they complete questionnaires about their emotions and anxiety, complete pre/post measures of cardiac physiology and state anxiety, and engage in a drawing session. Participants also complete a one-week follow-up self-report of anxiety symptoms. The intervention protocol is briefly described as follows: participants in each sample are randomly assigned to one of three groups (guided drawing, free drawing control, or basic control).

Conditions

• Anxiety

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Guided Drawing Intervention

The guided drawing activity is a 20 minute session which integrates mindfulness and drawing elements. Participants were given a pencil and blank paper to use while they watched a pre-recorded video guiding them through a mindfulness and drawing activity. In the pre-recorded video, participants are instructed to draw elements of nature from exemplar photographs (e.g., leaves, twigs). The activity incorporates drawing with aspects of mindfulness meditation (i.e., being non-judgmental of thoughts and behaviors, focusing on breathing, and embodiment).

BEHAVIORAL

Free Drawing Control

Participants are instructed to draw freely for about 20 minutes.

BEHAVIORAL

Basic Control

Participants are instructed to complete simple paper and pencil activities (e.g., mazes, connect the dots) for about 20 minutes.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Penn State University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Sarah Myruski, PhD · The Pennsylvania State University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

13 Years

Max Age

25 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-09-29

Primary Completion

2025-06-30

Completion

2025-06-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations