Papers of the Week

Patients with breast cancer (BC) cope with depression which is linked to functional limitations in survivorship and to physical symptoms. Pain and fatigue are prominent symptoms that affect the well-being of cancer survivors. Emotional processing has been associated with improved physical and psychological health in survivors. Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that involves the use of visual art-making for expression and communication. It encourages emotional processing and has been linked to symptom reduction in patients with cancer. This protocol is designed to examine two mechanistic changes: emotional processing (awareness, expression and acceptance) and cholinergic anti-inflammatory processes (heart rate variability and cytokine expression) through which an art therapy intervention may reduce depression, pain and fatigue. In addition, we will examine ethnocultural differences in the effect of art therapy in women from different ethnocultural backgrounds.