Using Creativity to Improve Cognitive Flexibility in Adolescents with Depression
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a persistent issue in adolescents and hinders cognitive flexibility, the ability to shift one's behavior according to a changing environment. This functional impairment is frequent in those suffering from MDD and can negatively impact their quality of life. While pharmacological intervention is a common approach in treating MDD and regaining cognitive flexibility, these treatments may prove ineffective for some patients, or they may opt for non-pharmacological approaches. Previous research studying the efficacy of art therapy found sufficient evidence for its treatment of various disorders, including MDD. Furthermore, preliminary research on participation in creative activities ameliorates depressive symptoms. We hypothesize that participation in creative activities alleviates symptoms of depression and improves cognitive flexibility in participants. To investigate this, we used data from the Creativity Camp Study, where 43 adolescents (ages 12–17) engaged in creative activities for two weeks and were assessed for depressive symptoms and cognitive flexibility. Before and after camp, participants were administered a letter fluency test, a cognitive assessment to determine changes in cognitive flexibility, and the Child Depression Inventory (CDI) to assess symptom presentation. The participants’ parents/guardians were also administered a similar variation of the CDI to evaluate the adolescents' external symptom presentation before and after camp. The assessment results from this study support the hypothesis that engaging in creative activities significantly ameliorates adolescents' depressive symptoms and improve cognitive flexibility. This data supports previous studies and indicate that non-pharmacological approaches are a plausible treatment for adolescents with depression. Shortcomings, including a small cohort size (N = 43) and potentially confounding variables such as environment and practice effects, require further study before recommendations for depression treatment can be made.