Bildlicher Ausdruck von Depression - Erprobung des Ratinginstruments RizbA an Bildstichproben aus dem klinischen Kunsttherapiesetting

This paper explores the ways in which persons diagnosed with depression artistically describe their depression through painting. The rating instrument for two dimensional creative works, RizbA (2018), is utilized for comparing paintings made by persons having experienced recurring episodes of depression with persons having no current or prior diagnosis of depression. A total of 17 two dimensional creative works were gathered from patients diagnosed with recurring depression being treated in a psychiatric day clinic in Germany (experimental group). Within the framework of an online study, art experts (N=83) used items from the RizbA rating scale to judge the works. The data for the control group were taken from a previous study filtered with respect to demographic similarity. A t-test of independent samples with a bonferroni-corrected significance level was then applied. The results show a significant difference in 4 of the 26 items of the RizbA rating instrument. Paintings from the experimental group were significantly less brilliant in terms of brightness and showed significantly less contrast. The paintings from the experimental group received a significantly higher rating with respect to all-over-structure and depth of perspective.