The purpose of this study is to investigate whether art therapy, when applied to a child
showing some early symptoms of the Internet game addiction, can help the child improve
his attention, personal relations, and self control. The study subject is a nine year old boy
who shows no interest in school work, cannot be attentive, and is absorbed in comics or
computer games, which leads him to losing self control and becoming easily irritable and
moody to the effect that he experiences difficulties in personal relations. Total of 20
therapeutic sessions, with a single session a week lasting 60 minutes, are arranged and
carried out. Chosen as the study instruments are the tests of BBRS(Burk's Behavior Rating
Scales); ADHD(Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder); FCCD(Family Centered Circle
Drawing); KSD(Kinetic School Drawing); as well as Internet-Game Addiction Test.
The results thus obtained are as follows.
First, art therapy demonstrates some effective improvements on the game addicted child's
sense of attention. He marked in the pre-test of BBRS a serious level on 5 sub-categories
(anxiety, dependence, self strength, attention deficit, lack of reality) out of total 19
sub-categories, whereas in the post-test he made a serious marking only on a single
category, showing that he has improved his attention or sense of concentration.
Second, the therapeutic sessions are found to be useful in improving the child's personal
relations. In the pre-test of FCCD and KSD with careful behavioral observation, he showed
behavior of anxiety, aggression as well as some negative emotions against his family, while
in the post-test he showed not only positive thoughts toward his family and school, but
also positive attitudes that would improve his relations with others.
Third, art therapy further shows some effectiveness on the addicted child to enhance his
sense of self control. In the pre-test of the Internet-game addiction the child marked 33
points indicating an early symptom of addiction, but in the post-test he exhibits 20 points,
telling that he managed to pull himself out of the addiction and is now able to control himself as a normal user of the Internet.
To conclude, it can be claimed that art therapy is a helpful tool for an Internet-game addicted child to improve his ability to focus on attention, personal relations and self control, especially when the child shows early symptoms of the Internet addiction.
Key Words : Art Therapy, Addiction to the Internet Games, Attention, Personal Relationship, Self Control