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Mandala and Mood
Mandala and Mood
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To cite this article: Anastasia Babouchkina & Steven J. Robbins (2015) Reducing Negative Mood Through Mandala
Creation: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 32:1, 34-39, DOI:
10.1080/07421656.2015.994428
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Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 32(1) pp. 34–39, © AATA, Inc. 2015
brief report
Reducing Negative Mood Through Mandala Creation:
A Randomized Controlled Trial
convenience sample of 67 adult participants was randomly step further, arguing that art therapy research should focus
assigned to one of 4 conditions following negative mood more on the “active ingredients” required for therapeutic
induction: (a) coloring a blank circle with instructions to effects. Most randomized controlled trials in art therapy
express feelings, (b) coloring a blank circle with instructions to research to this point have examined drawing as an agent of
draw freely, (c) coloring a square with instructions to express emotional change (see Slayton et al., 2010, for a review),
feelings, or (d) coloring a square with instructions to draw but few studies have examined whether specific drawings
freely. The two circle (mandala) groups reported significantly might serve as especially potent active ingredients. One
greater mood improvement compared to the two square such proposed drawing is the mandala, a design that uses a
conditions. These results demonstrate that the circular shape of circular boundary within which the drawing is done. Dat-
the mandala serves as an “active ingredient” in mood ing back to Jung’s writings on mandala symbolism (see,
enhancement. e.g., Jung, 1959/1973), mandalas have held special signifi-
cance in art therapy. In recent years, attention has turned to
the use of randomized controlled trials to evaluate whether
Introduction mandala creation has specific efficacy for improving nega-
tive mood states (e.g., Curry & Kasser, 2005; DeLue,
Over the last two decades, psychological organizations 1999; Henderson, Rosen, & Mascaro, 2007; Pisarik & Lar-
such as the American Psychological Association have son, 2011; Schrade, Tronsky, & Kaiser, 2011; Slegelis,
increasingly encouraged clinicians to employ evidence- 1987; Small, 2006; van der Vennet & Serice, 2012). Man-
based practices with specific emphasis on the use of ran- dala studies typically ask participants to color in a pre-
domized controlled trials to establish “empirically sup- drawn mandala figure or to freely draw within a blank
ported therapies” (see Chambliss & Hollon, 1998). circle.
Numerous papers in recent years have called for quantita- Curry and Kasser (2005) utilized an experimental
tive, experimental studies to assess the impact of art making design to examine whether coloring mandalas containing
on mental health (Bell & Robbins, 2007; Burleigh & Beu- pre-drawn geometric forms would produce greater anxiety
tler, 1997; Carolan, 2001; Deaver, 2002; Geue et al., reduction compared to coloring in a comparably complex
2010; Kapitan, 2012; Reynolds, Nabors, & Quinlan, square figure. Following a negative mood induction, under-
2000; Slayton, D’Archer, & Kaplan, 2010; Stuckey & graduate students were randomly assigned to color within a
Nobel, 2010; Tibbets, 1995). A recent Delphi study mandala containing geometric forms, to color within a
reported that art therapy researchers identified efficacy square containing a plaid pattern, or to freely draw on a
research as the number one priority for research in the field blank page. Both circle and square conditions produced
(Kaiser & Deaver, 2013). Randomized controlled trials are more mood improvement than free drawing, but the shape
necessary to establish that improvement following an art conditions did not differ from each other in mood effect.
therapy intervention is not the result of nonspecific factors Small (2006) attempted to replicate this study (splitting the
such as history, maturation, selection bias, regression to the mandala group into subgroups that either did or did not
read an essay on the history of mandala symbolism) and
Editor’s Note: Anastasia Babouchkina is a graduate of Arca- found no differences in mood improvement across condi-
dia University, Glenside, PA, and Steven J. Robbins is Professor
tions. In the most recent version of this design, van der
of Psychology at the same institution. Correspondence concerning
this report may be addressed to the second author at Vennet and Serice (2012) found that coloring in the pre-
[email protected] drawn mandala design caused more improvement than
34
BABOUCHKINA / ROBBINS 35
both the square/plaid and free drawing conditions. In sum, such as puzzles in a within-subjects design. Changes in
results from the “pre-drawn” mandala studies have been blood pressure and pulse rate did not differ across condi-
inconsistent; of three studies using this design, only one has tions. Pisarik and Larson (2011) assigned undergraduate
documented specific effects of coloring within a circular students to one of two conditions: drawing a circle and fill-
design compared to another shape. ing it in with images representing themselves or no inter-
Van der Vennet and Serice (2012) remarked that color- vention. Participants in the mandala condition reported
ing in a pre-drawn mandala is a less common practice in art significantly greater increases in awareness and personal
therapy settings compared to the creation of an original growth compared to participants in the control condition.
mandala. Jung (1959/1973) proposed that the creation of However, the use of a no-treatment control raises the possi-
design elements within the mandala is the active ingredient bility that group differences could be attributed to nonspe-
in producing psychological change. Original mandala crea- cific factors such as demand effects (only individuals in the
tion involves the client drawing the circle or being provided drawing group have any reason to expect personal change)
with a circular outline on a blank page. A number of studies or observer bias (the experimenter knew which participants
have examined this approach. were in which condition). In short, design limitations and
In one of the first experimental studies on mandala cre- inconsistent results have limited the conclusions to be
ation, Slegelis (1987) randomly assigned college students to drawn from existing experimental studies of mandalas.
freely draw within either a circular or square outline. Slege- Consequently, the primary purpose of the present
lis’s design elegantly isolates the circular form as the “active study was to return to the simple and elegant design of
ingredient” of the study; however, her only measure of out- Slegelis’s (1987) study by comparing the effects of draw-
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come was the number of angles drawn within each figure ing within a circle to drawing within a square on mood
(based on the idea that angles denote negative emotional state. We expanded on that original design in three spe-
states). More angles were seen in the square figures, an cific ways. First, we incorporated a manipulation
observation interpreted as demonstrating the calming effect designed to see whether instructions to disclose emo-
of the circular figure. This result is also consistent with an tional states enhance mandala effects; such instructions
explanation based on imitation (or modeling or priming): are commonly used in art therapy practice as well as in
Individuals asked to draw within an angular border might existing studies on mandala efficacy (e.g., Henderson
be more likely to incorporate similar shape elements in their et al., 2007; Pisarik & Larson, 2011). Second, we made
drawings. The absence of an externally validated mood use of a well-validated, highly sensitive mood inventory,
measure makes the results of this study difficult to interpret. the Profile of Mood States (POMS; McNair, Lorr, &
In a later and oft-cited study, Henderson et al. (2007) Droppleman, 1971) to assess mandala effects. The sec-
randomly assigned participants screened for trauma symp- ond author has used the POMS with success in earlier
toms to one of two conditions. In the mandala group, par- work to document significant changes in negative mood
ticipants were asked to draw within a circle in order to brought about by art making (Bell & Robbins, 2007;
express feelings about their trauma. In the control group, Boothby & Robbins, 2011; Kimport & Robbins, 2012).
participants were asked to draw a specifically described Finally, we made an attempt to explore the mechanism
object (such as a cup or pen). Numerous self-report ratings of a possible mandala effect by asking participants to
of mood and symptoms were collected pre-drawing, post- write self-disclosure essays at the end of the study. We
drawing, and at a 1-month follow-up. Participants in the were interested in whether mandala effects on negative
mandala condition reported greater improvement in one of mood could be accounted for by increases in willingness
10 statistical tests (level of trauma symptoms at 1-month or ability to openly express inner states.
follow-up). Because no alpha correction for multiple tests More specifically, we randomly assigned 67 partici-
was employed, the one significant result could be attributed pants to four groups following negative mood state
to a Type 1 error. Furthermore, unlike Slegelis’s (1987) induction: (a) coloring in a circle (mandala) with instruc-
design, Henderson et al. did not isolate the circular shape tions to express feelings, (b) coloring in a circle with
of the mandala as the sole difference between groups. Even instructions to draw freely, (c) coloring in a square with
if the mandala group did show greater improvement, that instructions to express feelings, or (d) coloring in a square
result could be attributed to the effects of free drawing, with instructions to draw freely. Overall negative mood
drawing within any bounded shape, or instructions to score on the POMS was collected before and after the
express traumatic feelings through drawing. None of these drawing task in each group. This factorial design allowed
features were included in the control condition. DeLue us to examine several questions within one study. First,
(1999) compared changes in physiological arousal between we could examine whether coloring within a circle
children randomly assigned to draw inside circles or work improves mood more than drawing within a square. Sec-
with puzzles. Greater reductions in arousal were seen in the ond, we could test whether instructions to express feel-
mandala group, but once again, the design does not permit ings in a drawing task produce more mood improvement
the conclusion that the circular shape was the active ingredi- than instructions to draw freely. Finally, we were able to
ent in the observed effects. test for a shape by instructions interaction; we hypothe-
More recently Schrade et al. (2011) had adults with sized that mandala drawing paired with instructions to
intellectual disabilities freely draw within a circle, freely express feelings would produce the greatest mood
draw on a blank page, or work with non-drawing materials enhancement.
36 EFFECT OF MANDALAS ON NEGATIVE MOOD
measurement points (baseline, pretest, and posttest) for the The interactions involving the Instructions dimension
four treatment groups can be found in Table 1. did not reach statistical significance. However, the three-
way interaction (Shape by Instructions by Time) produced
Negative Mood Induction a nearly significant result, F(1, 63) D 3.6, p D .06. As pre-
dicted, the largest magnitude change in mood occurred in
Success of the negative mood induction manipulation Group A, which was instructed to express their feelings by
was evaluated through a two-way, repeated measures coloring within a circle. Furthermore, the significant differ-
ANOVA using Group (A, B, C, D) as a between-group fac- ence seen in mood change between the circle and square
tor and Time (baseline, pretest) as a within-subjects factor. conditions seems largely a product of the two feelings con-
Overall negative mood score on the POMS served as the ditions; Table 1 reveals that the circle and square groups
measure. We did not employ the factors Shape and Instruc- instructed to draw freely (Group B and Group D) had
tions as separate factors in this analysis because the groups almost identical changes in mood from pre- to posttest.
had not yet been treated differently. We wished simply to
check whether the four groups were in comparable mood Disclosure Essay Outcome
states prior to the drawing task.
Results of the ANOVA revealed a significant main Levels of written self-disclosure in the four conditions
effect of Time, F(1, 63) D 22.8, p < .001. Inspection of were evaluated first by conducting a word count on each
Table 1 reveals that negative mood increased for all four essay. Overall, participants wrote an average of 132 words/
groups from baseline to pretest. The ANOVA produced essay (SD D 69.0). For the four conditions, mean word
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neither a significant main effect of Group nor a Group by counts (with standard deviations in parentheses) were as fol-
Time interaction; thus, the four groups had comparable lev- lows: Group A, 108.1 (51.7), Group B, 142.1 (63.2),
els of negative mood overall and also experienced compara- Group C, 136.3 (81.8), Group D, 141.0 (77.0). A two-
ble increases in negative mood following the mood way ANOVA (Shape by Instructions) failed to reveal any
induction procedure. Thus, random assignment was suc- significant group effects. To analyze essay content, we had
cessful in creating groups matched for mood state. two independent raters, blinded to participant condition,
underline all examples of statements relating to personal
Drawing Intervention Outcome feelings. Overall, the two raters agreed on 265 instances of
feelings statements and disagreed on 87 (75% agreement).
To assess the impact of Shape (circle vs. square) and To be conservative, we analyzed only the agreed-upon
Instructions (feelings vs. free) on negative mood, a three- examples. Across conditions, participants provided an aver-
way, repeated-measures ANOVA was computed employing age of 4.0 feelings statements per essay (SD D 2.8). Once
the pre- and posttest time points as a within-subjects factor. again, a two-way ANOVA failed to find any significant
There was a significant main effect of Time, F(1, 63) D group effects. Thus, the greater mood reduction in the
51.0, p < .001, indicating that mood generally improved mandala groups did not seem related to a correspondingly
across intervention conditions. Of greater interest, there was greater inclination to self-disclose feeling states.
also a significant two-way interaction of Shape by Time, F
(1, 63) D 4.1, p < .05. As Table 1 indicates, negative Discussion
mood decreased more in the circle conditions compared to
the square conditions. Drawing in a circle produced a The results of this study demonstrate that drawing
decrease in negative mood of 23.9 points, compared to within a circular boundary has specific efficacy for improv-
13.5 points in the square conditions. Thus, participants in ing mood state. The two groups that colored within a circle
the circle conditions experienced 77% more mood improve- showed greater reduction in negative mood on the POMS
ment compared to those in the square conditions. from pre- to posttest compared to the two groups that
Table 1 POMS Overall Mean (SD) Negative Mood Scores at Baseline, Pretest, and Posttest
colored within a square. By holding constant all conditions employed here with systematic, reliable ratings of mandala
of drawing other than the simple pre-drawn boundary on content. A number of papers in recent years have advanced
the page, we were able to clearly demonstrate that the circu- strategies for making consistent and valid ratings of mandala
lar shape (mandala) was the active ingredient. Furthermore, content (e.g., Elkis-Abuhoff, Gaydos, Goldblatt, Chen, &
although the three-way interaction of Shape £ Instructions Rose, 2009; Kim, Kang, & Kim, 2009; Kim, Kim, & Kim,
£ Time did not reach statistical significance 2008), but the use of such systems went beyond the scope
(p D .06), there was a trend toward the mandala effect and resources of the present investigation.
being most pronounced when participants were asked to Whatever the underlying mechanism, the present study
express their feelings. Of the four conditions, the group straightforwardly documents the specific efficacy of the cir-
that was asked to express their feelings by coloring within a cular form for improving mood. We hope these results stim-
circle showed the most improvement. ulate further interest in the properties of mandala creation as
The present design has three specific virtues for docu- well as demonstrating the importance of isolating the active
menting that the differences in mood change seen across ingredient behind proposed art therapy interventions.
groups resulted specifically from the shapes employed. First,
random assignment reduces the likelihood that factors such
as selection bias or regression to the mean could account for Acknowledgments
the results. As described earlier, the four groups had compa-
rable levels of negative mood at pretest and showed similar The first author completed this research as part of the
levels of susceptibility to the negative mood induction. Sec- requirements for a BA in psychology.
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