An expert system approach to art psychotherapy

Abstract

This paper proposes an expert system as a solution to the empirical, heuristic and subjective nature of current art psychotherapy methods. We introduce the framework of the expert system, including its design, knowledge acquisition, representation methods, and modeling of human reasoning process of diagnosis. We discuss the software development environment, menu, and functions of the system, and provide the steps of its application. The user interface makes it possible for non-experts such as parents and teachers to utilize this system in ascertaining signs of their children's psychological problems at an early stage. In addition, this system makes use of many kinds of advantages computers can offer, with the result that diagnosing is done with explicit standards in a more effective way. In the process of unifying existing theories in a systematic manner, this system can foster art psychotherapy research. Finally, this paper attempts to prove the expert system's suitability and usefulness in art psychotherapy through a case study. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.