Art Therapy QEEG Study for Service Members with a Traumatic Brain Injury and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

This is a pilot, interventional clinical trial in which all 9 service members with comorbid PTSD and mTBI participate in 8 sessions (1 baseline session of interviews and questionnaires, 6 sessions of art therapy, and 1 final session of interviews and questionnaires). Participants must have significant posttraumatic stress symptoms and a history of mild traumatic brain injury. Target enrollment is 9 active duty service members or recently separated veterans, aged 18-64 with no prior art therapy exposure, at the NICoE at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) are persistent and frequently comorbid complications of combat that remain a challenge to healthcare providers. In these complex cases, traditional treatments often fail to provide complete relief from symptoms associated with posttraumatic stress (PTS), anxiety, and depression, leading the military healthcare system to look towards complementary and integrative treatments. Art therapy is one promising intervention that helps service members (SMs) develop a "visual voice," using imagery, symbolism, and metaphor to externalize emotions and experiences that they may not be able to express in words. The standardized, integrative mental health and human services approach of the art therapy program at the NICoE utilizes a mask-making directive to explore thoughts, feelings, and experiences of combat and self-understanding. This process is especially relevant to SMs with PTS symptoms who often remember their trauma as an incoherent, fragmented memory that is often predominantly sensory in nature. NICoE researchers have provided preliminary evidence suggesting associations between recurring art themes represented within the masks and individual BH symptoms; yet, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying this therapeutic technique remain obscure. To date, there have been few studies using neuroimaging techniques to investigate brain network changes during art creation. Studies have utilized electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) during art creation but not within the context of art therapy. Mobile, quantitative EEG allows for real time data capture that could minimize interference of neuroimaging during the therapeutic process and provide insight into the neurological mechanisms underlying art therapy.

Study design and procedures: Participants will be provided with a blank paper mache mask template and invited to alter the mask however they wish using a variety of art materials. The therapist will use the art-making process and culminating product to aid in self-reflection, reframe negative thoughts and feelings, and work through traumatic content. Prior to the session start participants will get set up with the mobile qEEG. The qEEG will be segmented into a pre-art therapy session resting state, prompt-specific tasks during the art therapy session, and a post-art therapy session resting state.

Inclusion criteria

• Active duty service member or recently separated veteran (within the past 5 years)
• DEERs eligible
• Significant posttraumatic stress symptoms
• History of mild traumatic brain injury
• Aged 18-64

Exclusion criteria

• Previous art therapy exposure
• Moderate, severe, or penetrating TBI history
• History of a psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder, or active suicidal or homicidal ideation
• Unable to provide informed consent