From gesture to meaning: art therapy, children’s drawing process, and emotional resilience—a phenomenologically informed psychological study
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Children often struggle to verbalise difficult emotions, which makes therapeutic methods that support their emotional health and wellbeing particularly important. This study examined the relationship between art therapy, children's drawing processes, and emotional resilience from a phenomenologically oriented psychological perspective in China. The study aimed to understand children's experiences of drawing during art therapy and the role of these experiences in meaning-making and the development of resilience. A qualitative phenomenological design was used with 20 children (aged 8-12 years) who took part in a 10-week art therapy programme delivered across three settings. Data were collected through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, reflective dialogue, and analysis of 200 drawings, and were analysed following transcendental phenomenological procedure. Four interconnected themes emerged: Drawing as Emotional Externalisation, Symbolic Meaning-Making Through Visual Narratives, Transformation of Fear into Agency, and Emergence of Emotional Resilience and Future Orientation. Participants described drawing as a means of externalising difficult emotions, constructing personal meaning through symbols and stories, and developing a stronger sense of agency and coping. The findings suggest that art therapy can function as a developmental bridge connecting emotion and meaning, supporting children's experienced sense of resilience through emotional awareness, reflective understanding, and self-expression. As a qualitative study without a comparison group or independent outcome measures, the findings describe children's perceived and experienced changes rather than demonstrated therapeutic effects; with this caveat, the results carry exploratory implications for education, counselling, and therapeutic practice aimed at supporting children's psychological wellbeing.
Source: Frontiers in Psychology
Author: Wenke Sun
Institution: Wenzhou University
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7222266722