McLean Hospital continues to expand the use of Expressive Digital Imagery® (EDI) across a wide variety of therapeutic programs, including those designed to treat bipolar disorder, childhood trauma, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and mood-related disorders. These programs span multiple levels of care, including inpatient, outpatient, partial hospitalization, and school-based. For each specific course of treatment, McLean and the EDI Institute have collaborated to design customized approaches for integrating EDI into McLean’s evidence-based therapies.
One of the longest-running EDI groups at McLean is the bipolar disorder outpatient program. During this 8-week group session, participants create images corresponding to weekly themes related to bipolar disorder. Themes include “Warning Signs,” “Triggers,” and “Coping Strategies.” Participants send their images to the McLean clinician in advance of each week’s session, and these images then become the foundation for group discussion. At the conclusion of the program, participants receive printed EDI books, cards, or “Resilience Plans” to support them in their ongoing recoveries.
This video contains samples of imagery created by McLean patients across many different programs, including the original versions of each image.