Syrian refugee kids are benefiting psychologically from art therapy

The Syrian refugee crisis has become one of the most tragic horror stories of this era. The Syrian civil war has displaced an unusually large number of people. The psychological impact of this situation on the Syrians has been staggering, particularly for the Syrian children. Taylor & Francis has reported a new study has shown that art therapy has been beneficial in helping Syrian refugee children to reduce psychological problems. According to a study of Syrian refugee children living in Turkey group art therapy seems to be helpful in lowering a wide range of psychological symptoms which are commonly experienced by refugee kids. It has been observed that refugee kids are at high risk for a myriad of psychological problems which include depression, aggression, behavioral problems, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There are almost 1.5 million refugee kids from Syria who are presently living in Turkey and effective programs are desperately needed to improve their mental health. In this study a week after the program began there were reports of significant improvements in depression, trauma, and anxiety symptoms. This study highlights the psychological impact of the refugee crisis on Syrian kids and offers a potentially effective natural therapy in the form of art therapy. This study has been published in the journal Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies. It has been observed that art therapy may be an effective method to decrease post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety symptoms in refugee kids. This form of natural therapy does not have the potentially hazardous side effects of drug treatments for these conditions. With such a humane approach to helping the Syrian refugee kids adapt psychologically to their difficult situation in the world they will have a much better chance of having promising futures.