59-05-032 Proceeding

332 Proceedings of the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Congress At Mai Huong DaytimeMental Hospital, doctors use art, music and handicrafts to support their diagnoses and treatments of patients. Doctor Đ ỗ Thu H ồ ng at the Department of Pediatrics and Clinical Psychology got to know art therapy while she was studying psychology in Bulgaria. During her examinations, she usually asks her child patients to draw so she canmakemore accurate diagnoses and recommend more effective treatments. Medical records are often accompanied by a number of drawings. Based on such drawings and by talking with the patient, the doctor can have a grasp of his or her psychology. As for mature patients, making plastic flowers is used as a therapy. The hospital buys the parts and then teaches its patients how to assemble them into beautiful flowers. Some patients who lost their basic manual skills have recovered through this activity. The doctors also make good use of music therapy. Every week there is a music session which cheers the patients up, makes them more optimistic and helps them recover basic skills. When examining children and diagnosing their illnesses, doctors at the National Institute of Mental Health also ask them to draw. Recently, especially after a few international conferences jointly organized by theUniversity of Freiburg, an increasing number of the institute’s doctors have expressed their interest in using art as therapy. Most of them are nowwell aware of the fact that art therapy is indispensable for the treatment of mental patients, beside pharmaceutical and chemical therapies. However, in general, psychological therapists at the institute andmental health facilities Figure 1 Doctor Đ ỗ Thu H ồ ng usually asks her child patients to draw so she can make more accurate diagnoses and recommend more effective treatments.