Running and Art and Therapy: A Combined Approach to Reducing State Anxiety

Abstract

This study is a one-group, pre-/post-test design that uses a self-report to measure anxiety levels. It seeks to determine if running and kinesthetic art making can have an impact on decreasing symptoms of anxiety and whether combining art making and running will have a greater impact on reduction in symptoms. To date, little research has been done combining treatment methods to help decrease symptoms of anxiety. This research also looks at how anxiety is experienced in the mind (cognitive) and the body (somatic) and how treatment can be adapted to target specific symptoms. This research utilized the State Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety (STICSA) to determine what types of anxiety experienced by the researcher and what type of intervention, running or art making, would have a greater impact in reducing types of anxiety. Results showed an overall decrease in STICSA scores over the three-week study period. Running decreased both cognitive and somatic scores and art making showed the greatest decrease in cognitive scores. When running and art making were combined, results demonstrated further reduction in the somatic symptom category. The results indicated that both art as therapy and running as therapy have an impact on anxiety. Additional research would be beneficial to understand how these combined therapies could be applied to reduce the cognitive and somatic symptoms of anxiety.