Creative Education, 2024, 15, 278-288 https://www.scirp.org/journal/ce ISSN Online: 2151-4771 ISSN Print: 2151-4755 DOI: 10.4236/ce.2024.152016 Feb. 28, 2024 278 Creative Education A Summary of Expressive Arts Therapy and Painting Therapy Jiahua Wang * , Azizah Binti Abdullah School of Education, College of Arts & Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia Abstract Although traditional psychotherapy is effective, it has some limitations, such as long treatment period and unstable efficacy. Creative interventions have more benefits than traditional interventions. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the research findings of expressive arts therapy (EXAT) and paint- ing therapy, and to explore their development, theoretical basis, application fields, and mechanistic studies, in order to provide more effective interven- tion approaches and therapeutic methods for improving the public's mental health. Consequently, this paper reviewed and summarized a large body of li- terature that provides an overview of the development, theoretical founda- tions, and areas of application of EXAT and painting therapy. It is found that EXAT and painting therapy are widely used in the fields of psychotherapy, rehabilitation nursing, and education, and have achieved significant thera- peutic effects. Nevertheless, the current research still has limitations and short- comings. In the future, it is necessary to further study the mechanism and op- timize the treatment plan, to provide more effective intervention approaches and treatment methods in the field of mental health. Keywords Expressive Arts Therapy, Painting Therapy, Mental Health 1. Introduction 1.1. Research Background and Significance With the rapid development of society and the accelerated pace of life, people’s mental health problems have attracted more and more attention. Psychological disorders, stress, anxiety, and depression have become one of the main factors affecting people’s physical and mental health. Although the traditional psycho- therapy is effective, it has some limitations, such as long treatment cycle, great How to cite this paper: Wang, J. H., & Abdullah, A. B. (2024). A Summary of Ex- pressive Arts Therapy and Painting Thera- py. Creative Education, 15, 278-288. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2024.152016 Received: January 25, 2024 Accepted: February 25, 2024 Published: February 28, 2024 Copyright © 2024 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Open Access