Aesthetics for Mental Health: An Experimental Approach

Pages: 356-359
Sagar Vidwans and Amruta Punjabi (Department of Psychology, MIT ADT University, Pune, Maharashtra)

The Pandemic effect is still on and the world is in the phase of recovery. Every sector on the earth got affected by this disaster and every field has its own challenges. Educational institutions and students are also not exception to that. Online education was a provision definitely not a replacement. Staying away from college, friends and teachers, new ways to learn and assess, lack of social and cultural activities certainly posted challenges in student’s life. Of Course, mental health was a concern (Faisal et al., 2022). Flourishing is an innovative way to look at mental health. Most of the individuals are stuck in the middle, they are not either high on the happiness quotient nor are they depressed or anxious. The present experimental study was conducted on college-going (Undergraduate students) N=35 experimental and N= 32 control group. Total ten days of art-based intervention were implemented (duration of 2 hrs.). Pre-test and Post-test were calculated on mental health Continuum Short Form. It was found that art-based activities improved the mental health of the experimental group significantly. Experimental and control groups showed significant differences in gain scores of eudemonic (t=2.58; p<0.01), psychological well-being (t=2.93; p<0.01) and total mental health (t=3.63; p<0.01). Future research possibilities in the field of aesthetics and psychotherapy were discussed.