Can the arts really heal?
The arts trigger the release of neurochemicals, hormones and endorphins that offers you an emotional release. When you experience virtual reality, read poetry or fiction, see a film or listen to a piece of music, or move your body to dance, to name a few of the many arts, you are biologically changed. There is a neurochemical exchange that can lead to what Aristotle called catharsis, or a release of emotion that leaves you feeling more connected to yourself and others afterward.” Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
The arts offer a range of effective treatments for individual mental health challenges, as well as our collective emotional zeitgeist. They improve our psychology by offering enhanced self-efficacy, coping and emotional regulation. They improve our physiology by lowering stress emotional regulation, enhancing immune function, and increasing cardiovascular reactivity and that’s just the beginning.
Whereas a pharmacological treatment works on one, maybe two, pathways in the body, the ats have the ability to trigger hundreds of mechanisms that work in concert. Today, the arts are being used in at least six distinct ways to heal the body: as preventative medicine, as symptom relief for everyday health issues, as a treatment or intervention for illness, developmental issues and accidents; as psychological support, as a tool for successfully living with chronic issues, and at the end of life to provide solace and meaning.
Before a child talks, they sing. Before they write, they draw. As soon as they stand they dance. Art is fundamental to human expression. – Phylicia Rashad.
