105 THE EFFECT OF INK PAINTING ART THERAPY ON EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL COGNITION INTERVENTION IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

Abstract Background Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder characterized by cognitive impairments, emotional dysregulation, and social cognition deficits, severely affecting patients’ quality of life. Non-pharmacological therapies, especially art therapy, have gained attention for their creativity and psychological intervention. Ink painting therapy, part of Chinese culture, may positively impact emotional control and social cognition in patients through the expression and regulation of emotions in painting. Research on its therapeutic effects is scarce; this study aims to explore its impact on schizophrenia patients’ emotional stability and social cognition, offering new clinical treatment approaches. Methods The study included 120 patients meeting the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia and were randomly divided into the experimental group (n=60) and the control group (n=60). The experimental group received 12 weeks for 90 minutes; the control group was maintained with conventional treatment. Ink painting art therapy includes the teaching of basic painting skills, free subject painting, and group discussion. Intervention effects were assessed by emotional stability on the Emotional Stability Scale (Emotional Stability Scale, ESS), social cognition measured by the Social cognitive Questionnaire (Social Cognition Questionnaire, SCQ), and P300 component changes related to emotional processing and social cognition were analyzed by event-related potentials (Event-Related Potentials, ERP). Data analysis used SPSS 26.0 software. Results The changes in emotional and social cognitive indicators between the experimental group and the control group before and after the intervention are shown in Table 1. As shown in Table 1, the experimental group showed significant improvements in ESS, SCQ, and P300 amplitudes. After intervention, the amplitudes increased from 48.5±6.2 to 67.3±5.8, 58.9±7.1 to 74.6±6.3, and 8.3±1.2 to 10.6±1.1, respectively. The control group showed no significant changes, ranging from 49.2±6.4 to 52.1± 6.5, 59.3±7.5 to 61.2±7.0, and 8.2±1.3 to 8.4±1.3, respectively. The inter group differences and time effects were significant (P<0.001), indicating that the intervention had a significant positive effect on emotional stability, social cognition, and P300 amplitude. Discussion The results indicate that ink painting art therapy can significantly improve the emotional stability and social cognitive ability of patients with schizophrenia, and its mechanism of action may be related to enhancing P300 amplitude. This suggests that ink painting art therapy may indirectly enhance patients’ social cognitive function by improving their attention allocation and emotional processing abilities. Future research should further explore its intervention mechanisms and optimal implementation strategies, while considering the impact of different cultural backgrounds on intervention effectiveness.