The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of group art therapy on emotional expression and
life event stress in patients with schizophrenia. Patients who were diagnosed as schizophrenic and resided
in a mental health center located in G City and a mental hospital located in N City were participated in
the study. They were divided into the experimental group (n=10) and the control group (n=10), and group
art therapy was performed for 14 sessions, with 90 minutes per session. Emotional expression was examined
through the Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire developed by Gross and John (1995) to evaluate the
effectiveness of the study and the life event stress was tested using Star-Wave Test (SWT) developed by
Yeong-Ho Lee (1993) and modified and added by the factor analysis of Myeong-Ah Seo (2015). The
adequacy of the stress test and coping resources was examined using a Person-in-the Rain (PITR)
assessment. As a result, the group art therapy program had an effect on the improvement of emotional
expression and caused a decrease in life event stress in patients with schizophrenia. The results, therefore,
suggest that the group art therapy program is effective in improving emotional expression and decreasing
life event stress in patients with schizophrenia and can be used as a therapeutic approach in the clinical
field.