Art offers an avenue for healing — the science is clear

How often do you hear someone say this: “It’s as much an art as it is a science?” 

Those two things, art and science, are not so disparate. We’re learning this in all sorts of ways, and especially in the fields of health and well-being.

Arts have been proven to be a particularly powerful tool in trauma recovery for individuals and communities. 

This is the kind of work philanthropy and governments should be funding. And we’re seeing good steps in this direction in Washington state. 

We’re experiencing a mental health crisis in the United States. People have been more isolated, especially since the start of COVID-19. For many, mental health issues are compounded by other factors, such as systemic racism, homelessness, substance use disorders, abusive situations and more.  

Trauma-informed arts instruction and practice is associated with: a reduction in the need for pain medication; decreased length of hospital stays; reduced overall health care costs; decreased incidence of depression; increased memory and cognitive function; and improved communication and behavioral skills.

Books like the recent New York Times best-seller “Your Brain on Art” by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross are calling attention to a new field known as neuroarts. Neuroarts, they write, focuses on the ways “arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the body, brain, and behavior and how this knowledge is translated into specific practices that advance health and well-being.” 

Both creating and observing culture affects the brain’s ability to make new connections, and change the pathways of old, unproductive and harmful ones. 

These discoveries could not be more apt for our current moment — when massive shifts like the pandemic, climate change, our national racial reckoning and threats to democracy are assaulting our well-being daily. 

“In the 21st century when our expansion of knowledge outpaces our ability to understand and utilize it, we are beginning to pay attention to our basic human needs for safety, community, art, and music — and to unlock their meaning and harness their power,” writes Jill Sonke, research director in the Center for Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida. 

We’ve seen this for more than a decade in my organization, Path with Art. People who’ve experienced the individual trauma of addiction or abuse or homelessness, or the collective harm of systemic biases, find in art a means for expressing the unsayable and connecting with others. 

One of our students, or participant artists, named Lisa, has bipolar disorder. A case manager helped her register for a PwA class in drawing, and she’s also taken painting and ceramics classes. 

“Since being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I have been hospitalized 26 times,” she says. “In these past seven years that I’ve been involved in Path with Art, I have not had one hospitalization.” And Lisa’s case is not unique. 

Art offers an avenue for healing. 

That’s not a metaphor. That’s biology. 

King County’s most recent budget directs funding from the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Fund to healing-centered arts programming. Washington recently authorized counties and cities to create more access to arts opportunities through sales or property taxes.  

These are wins for people across our state. Cities and counties should take advantage of these funding vehicles. 

It’s plain science. Art is not a “nice to have.” It’s essential to healthy communities.