You might be surprised to know that the arts and health have over 100 years of partnership. Visual art, music, dance, creative writing, dramatic play, and theater have been used for decades to enhance individual experience in hospitals, mental health treatment centers, senior care facilities, emergency rooms, occupational therapy clinics, in pediatric care, and more. Wherever people are in crisis — health or otherwise — creative activities are found.

While most people intuitively know that including creative activity in a health setting has value, the benefits were not clearly defined or explained. As such, the creative arts have occupied a variety of spaces on the periphery of the health and human service industries.

In the last 10-15 years, however, there have been clusters of research targeted at defining what happens at the intersection of arts and health. In 2010, the American Journal of Public Health published a review of this research called “The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health.” This review provides an overview of findings at the crossroads of arts and health, specifically the impact on our emotional and physical well-being.

Studies in this review found that creative activity:

  • has a positive impact on our sense of hope, self-worth, and well-being
  • improves our sense of connectedness and widens our social networks
  • decreases depression and anxiety and reduces stress
  • improves cell function
  • boosts brain function and memory
  • decreases the need for medications and treatment in hospitals
  • decreases length of hospital stays / speeds overall recovery time
  • is associated with longevity

Read the full article about the healing power of the arts by Margaret Weisbrod Morris at ARTS Blog.