Exploring the link between art and health for National Arts and Humanities Month
You are an artist. Yes, you!
I know what you may be thinking: I’m not an artist! I can’t even draw a stick figure.
However, take a moment to remember a time you were creative – maybe cooking a meal, dressing your child, or taking a picture with your cell phone camera. So often, we think of art as painting or drawing, but the definition of art is incredibly vast and broad. We may lose touch with that creative part of ourselves in grade or high school, but it is still there within us.
October is National Arts and Humanities Month. Health Humanities is a relatively new field that brings together the arts (including philosophy, religion, literature, movement, painting, and more) and health and wellness. The arts positively impact our health and well-being, including improved self-esteem, cognition, and concentration. The arts can develop new pathways in our brain, called neuroplasticity. The arts can also alleviate anxiety, depression, and stress, and they are a unique approach to exploring and expressing emotion or just having fun.
Here are a few findings from the National Institutes of Health:
- Movement-based creative expression focuses on nonverbal, primarily physical, forms of expression as psychotherapeutic or healing tools. Through the movement of mind and body creatively, stress and anxiety can be relieved, and other health benefits can be achieved as well, with improvements to quality of life, range of motion, and body image.
- Studies have shown that relative to control group participants, individuals who have written about their own traumatic experiences exhibit statistically significant improvements in various measures of physical health, reductions in visits to physicians, and better immune system functioning. There were also improvements in the anger expression group in control over pain, depressed mood, and pain severity.
To learn more about those and other studies, click here.
Some of us in the health care field think predominantly with the left side of our brain: the logical, scientific, critical thinking space. What happens when we tap into the right side: the creative, emotional, and intuitive space? It may be uncomfortable.
Here are some common misconceptions about art:
- You need to be an artist to create.
- Art has to have meaning.
- Art has to be perfect and inside the lines.
Anyone can create art at any time, however, they would like. Art has no rules, but there may be a mental block to overcome. Art is a valuable tool to delve into – and express – different parts of ourselves. Using this perspective, we can allow some freedom and release instead of creating pressure on having to look perfect and have meaning.
American academic and podcaster Brene Brown says, “There is no innovation and creativity without failure.” Like anything else, we have to try and learn, making mistakes and sometimes failing. Art is no different.
The Wright Center began its Health Humanities program in 2021, focusing on alleviating burnout through various art activities, and creating a humanistic approach to how we view health care. This means having curiosity and humility towards patients and their backgrounds and lived experiences, and active self-reflection of your bias.
It also means attending to the patient’s medical aspect and taking a whole-person wellness approach. What may be causing their high blood pressure? Go underneath the surface. Maybe they lack access to certain foods or are coping with stress. People are more than their disease.
How do you take care of yourself during these high-stress moments? What fuels you to take care of your patients? Health care in and of itself is very traumatic and exhausting. Make sure you take time to decompress and attend to your own needs.
In addition to our Health Humanities program, The Wright Center recently hired Juliette Meyers, an art therapist. Here’s what she has to say about the benefits of art therapy:
Art therapy is a therapeutic modality that uses art as a form of communication. Have you ever been so immersed in art-making that you lost track of time? All that matters at that moment is you and your art. If so, you might find art to be a mindful practice and something you enjoy for self-care!
Art therapists refer to this phenomenon in art-making as being in the ‘flow.’ Within this mindful state, we can access subconscious thoughts; this is where the magic happens! Together with their clients, art therapists process heavy emotions that lurk underneath the surface to promote healing and growth.
For centuries, we’ve known the importance of art and how art elicits emotion. In more recent times, we are discovering how art can heal our emotions.
Through our programming, everyone is invited to show up as their authentic self and explore unique needs and the intersectionality of all they are. This creates psychological safety, where individuals feel a sense of inclusion and belonging, which is vital to improving health and well-being.
I visit the clinics monthly to lead art sessions. Look for a calendar invite to the next session at your clinic. Even if you think you are not an artist, take a moment to step away from your desk, give yourself time, and try something new. Many of our colleagues who initially hesitated to explore art sessions found reprieve and solace by creating and exploring parts of themselves. Maybe you can, too.
Thank you,
Allison LaRussa, B.A, CPS, RYT (she/her)
AVP, Health Humanities, Trauma-Informed Sanctuary Frameworks,
and Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging
The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education
