Creative art therapy for postpartum depression： A systematic review and meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Mental Health
• Psychotherapy
• Evidence-Based Practice

Background:

• Postpartum depression (PPD) affects a significant number of new mothers.
• Current treatments for PPD have limitations, necessitating exploration of alternative therapies.
• Creative Art Therapy (CAT) offers a novel approach to mental health support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically evaluate the efficacy of Creative Art Therapy (CAT) for alleviating postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms.
• To synthesize findings from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on CAT for PPD.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs.
• Comprehensive search of eight major bibliographic databases and Google Scholar up to May 2024.
• Independent data extraction and risk of bias assessment by two researchers, with meta-analysis performed using RevMan5.3 and STATA 15.1 software.

Main Results:

• Twelve studies involving 1633 patients were included.
• CAT significantly reduced depression (SMD = -0.882, P < 0.001) and anxiety (SMD = -0.712, P = 0.044) compared to control groups.
• Improvements were also observed in personal state (WMD = -5.180, P < 0.001), with stable results confirmed by sensitivity analysis.

Conclusions:

• Creative Art Therapy, including music and creative games, demonstrates significant effectiveness in reducing depression, anxiety, and improving personal state in patients with PPD.
• CAT shows promise for clinical application in managing PPD.
• Further high-quality, large-scale studies are recommended to explore CAT's multifaceted benefits in PPD management.