New Centre at Imperial to explore benefits of arts therapy

New Centre at Imperial to explore benefits of arts therapy. Researchers talk about the new International Centre for Research in Arts Therapies - %0A " - A new Centre has launched at Imperial College London that aims to explore the potential benefits of using arts therapies to treat physical and mental disorders. The International Centre for Research in Arts Therapies (ICRA), which launched on 21 September 2009, will coordinate and carry out large collaborative studies examining how effective arts therapies are for treating people with poor health. Currently, the researchers are running a clinical trial aimed at finding out if attending a weekly art therapy group can help people with longstanding emotional distress. Arts therapists use painting, drama, music, dance and movement to help patients, such as elderly people with dementia or young children who have experienced trauma, to express their thoughts and feelings. Previous, small-scale research has suggested that arts therapy can be an effective form of treatment for a range of conditions. The ICRA now aims to carry out larger scale studies and will also support others working in this area by putting arts therapists and researchers in touch with each other.