Using Arts-Based Methodologies to Understand Adolescent and Youth Manifestations, Representations, and Potential Causes of Depression and Anxiety in Low-Income Urban Settings in Peru.

BACKGROUND: Arts-based methodologies can be beneficial to identify different representations of stigmatized topics such as mental health conditions. This study used a theater-based workshop to describe manifestations, representations, and potential causes of depression and anxiety as perceived by adolescents and young adults. METHODS: The theater company Teatro La Plaza conducted three online sessions with a group of adolescents and another with a group of young adults from Lima, Peru. The artistic outputs, which included images, similes, monologues, and narrations, were used to describe the experiences of depression and anxiety symptoms following a content analysis using posteriori categories. RESULTS: Seventeen participants joined the sessions. The artistic outputs showed: physical, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional manifestations of depression and anxiety; a perception that both disorders have a cyclical nature; and an awareness that it is often difficult to notice symptom triggers. The mandatory social isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic was highlighted as an important symptom trigger, mostly linked to anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: The findings are consistent with the literature, especially with regard to the manifestations, representations, and potential causes that trigger depression and anxiety. Using arts-based methods allowed adolescents and young adults to expand the articulation of their representations of mental disorders.

Experiências e apontamentos para a pesquisa em psicologia baseada nas artes / Experiencias y apuntes para la investigación en psicología basada en las artes / Experiences and notes for research in arts-based psychology

Resumo A proposta deste artigo é pensar a criação de um campo híbrido de pesquisa/experimentação na intersecção entre arte contemporânea e psicologia. Nesse sentido, exploramos o eixo arte/experiência, na intenção de produzir linhas singulares e sensíveis de subjetivação, mais afeitas ao devir e aos fluxos do que a identidades fixas. Enquanto sujeitos/pesquisadores/artistas, nossa proposta foi criar metáforas, experiências, imagens de pensamento e rasgos no que nos chega pronto, a partir da elaboração de uma figuração híbrida/plástica de corpo/subjetividade. Este foi o meio que encontramos para dar passagem para diferentes superfícies intensivas. Para tanto, valemo-nos da Metodologia de Pesquisa Baseada nas Artes e de conceitos como figuração, conexões parciais, saberes localizados (Haraway, 1995, 2013), subjetividade estética (Rolnik, 2002; Teixeira, 1993), lógica da sensação (Deleuze, 2002), entre outros.

Resumen La propuesta de este artículo es pensar la creación de un campo híbrido de investigación/experimentación en la intersección entre psicología y arte contemporáneo. En este sentido, exploramos el eje arte/experiencia, con el fin de producir líneas singulares y sensibles de subjetivación, más acostumbradas al devenir y a los flujos que a las identidades fijas. Como sujetos/investigadores/artistas, nuestra propuesta fue crear metáforas, experiencias, imágenes de pensamiento y rasgos de aquello que nos llega listo, desde la elaboración de una figuración híbrida/plástica de cuerpo/subjetividad. Este fue el medio que encontramos para dar paso a diferentes superficies intensivas. Con este fin, nos basamos en la metodología de investigación basada en las artes y conceptos tales como figuración, conexiones parciales, conocimiento situado (Haraway, 1995, 2013), subjetividad estética (Rolnik, 2002; Teixeira, 1993), lógica de la sensación (Deleuze, 2002), entre otros.

Abstract The aim of this article is to consider the creation of a hybrid research/experimentation field at the intersection of contemporary art and psychology. In this sense, we explore the art/experience axis, with the intention of producing singular and sensitive lines of subjectivation. Lines that are more akin to becoming and to the flows than to fixed identities. While individuals/researchers/artists, our proposal was to create metaphors, experiences, images of thoughts and tears in what come to us as ready-made by creating a hybrid figuration/plastic body/subjectivity. This was the way we found to make different intensive surfaces flow. To do so, we followed the Arts Based Research Methodology, and concepts such as figuration, partial connections, located knowledges (Haraway, 1995; 2013), aesthetic subjectivity (Teixeira, 1993; Rolnik, 2002), the logic of sensation (Deleuze, 2002), among others.