The benefits of art/creativity for coping with stress and anxiety

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Studies have shown that expressing themselves through art can help people with depression, anxiety, or cancer, too. And doing so has been linked to improved memory, reasoning, and resilience in healthy older people.

The beneficial effects of creating aren't dependent on a person's skill or talents. "It's the process, not the product," says Megan Carleton, an art therapist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

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Turns out, tapping in to that creative energy can actually improve your overall health. It might sound too good to be true, but simply engaging in creative behaviors (even just coloring in those trendy adult coloring books) improves brain function, mental health, and physical health.

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The average person has about 60,000 thoughts in a day. A creative act such as crafting can help focus the mind, and has even been compared to meditation due to its calming effects on the brain and body. Even just gardening or sewing releases dopamine, a natural anti-depressant.

Creativity reduces anxiety, depression, and stress… And it can also help you process trauma. Studies have found that writing helps people manage their negative emotions in a productive way, and painting or drawing helps people express trauma or experiences that they find too difficult to put in to words.

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Studies suggest that art therapy can be very valuable in treating issues such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and even some phobias. It is a great way to express your emotions without words, process complex feelings and find relief.

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Art therapy improves the mental health of people who are dealing with addictions, anxiety, attention disorders, grief and loss, dementia, depression, eating disorders, physical illness, PTSD, trauma, relationship issues and much more.

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Studies also show that creating art stimulates the release of dopamine. This chemical is released when we do something pleasurable, and it basically makes us feel happier. Increased levels of this feel-good neurotransmitter can be very helpful if you are battling anxiety or depression.

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A new Drexel University study found that making art can significantly reduce stress-related hormones in your body.

Although the researchers from Drexel’s College of Nursing and Health Professions believed that past experience in creating art might amplify the activity’s stress-reducing effects, their study found that everyone seems to benefit equally.

“Biomarkers” are biological indicators (like hormones) that can be used to measure conditions in the body, such as stress. Cortisol was one such the hormone measured in the study through saliva samples. The higher a person’s cortisol level, the more stressed a person is likely to be. For Kaimal’s study, 39 adults, ranging from 18 to 59 years old, were invited to participate in 45 minutes of art-making. Cortisol levels were taken before and after the art-making period.

The researchers found that 75 percent of the participants’ cortisol levels lowered during their 45 minutes of making art. And while there was some variation in how much cortisol levels lowered, there was no correlation between past art experiences and lower levels.

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More and more people now appreciate that the arts and culture can play a valuable role in helping people who have mental health problems. As we’ve noted: engaging in arts, social activities and interaction within our communities can help with major challenges such as ageing and loneliness. It can help to boost confidence and make us feel more engaged and resilient. Besides these benefits, art engagement also alleviates anxiety, depression and stress.

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There is growing evidence that several different types of arts schemes are not only cost effective, but can improve wellbeing and have a positive impact on levels of anxiety and depression.

Take singing, for example. Research has demonstrated that it can have a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing. In fact, several studies undertaken with older people have found that community singing appears to have a significant effect on their quality of life – helping ameliorate the effects of anxiety and depression.

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Creating art relieves stress, encourages creative thinking, increases brain plasticity, and imparts other mental health benefits.

Activities like painting, sculpting, drawing, and photography are relaxing and rewarding  hobbies that can lower your stress level and leave you feeling mentally clear and calm. Creating art provides a distraction, giving your brain a break from your usual thoughts.

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Every time you engage in a new or complex activity, your brain creates new connections between brain cells. Your brain’s ability to grow connections and change throughout your lifetime is called brain plasticity, or neuroplasticity. Creating art stimulates communication between various parts of the brain. In this way, creating art has been proven to increase psychological and emotional resilience, making you more resistant to stress.

In The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature, researchers analyzed and reported on the findings of over 100 studies done on the benefits of art on physical and psychological health. They found that music and visual arts affected patients in these positive ways:

o   Art let patients forget about their illness for a while, allowing them to focus on positive life experiences.

o   Creating art enabled them to maintain the identity of who they were before they got sick.

o   Creative pursuits gave them a sense of achievement.

o   The creation process helped patients express their feelings.

o   Art creation reduced stress by lowering levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

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Results of a 2016 study published in the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association found that just 45 minutes of creative activity can reduce your stress, regardless of artistic experience or talent.1

Here are some ways that creating art can help alleviate stress:

·       Acts as a form of self-care: Sometimes, with all of life’s responsibilities, we forget that we need and deserve downtime and self-care. Taking even a few minutes on a regular basis to devote to a hobby can give you more of what you need in this area. With art, you have the additional benefit of being left with something beautiful (or at least interesting) to show for it.

·       Helps you tap into a "state of flow": Some psychologists describe flow as becoming deeply engrossed in an activity. Similar to meditation, flow can improve performance and lower stress levels.2 You may experience flow when you’re practicing an instrument, playing a sport, gardening, writing, painting, or drawing.

·       Takes your mind off things: Creating art can take your mind off of whatever is stressing you, at least for a few minutes. It's difficult to keep ruminating on your problems when you're focused on creating. If your problems stay with you, you can incorporate them into your creations. Once you're done, you should have a clearer head with which to tackle your problems again.

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The creation of art can provide a catharsis for difficult emotions, a distraction from stressful thoughts and experiences, and a chance to get into a state of "flow" that can be restorative in many ways.

Studies show that art therapy, coloring mandalas, and drawing in general can minimize anxiety and combat negative mood.1 Most of the studies have people drawing or coloring for about 20 minutes, so it’s really not necessary to be a gifted or serious artist for this stress reliever to be helpful; no artistic ability is required, in fact!

One study divided slightly stressed subjects into two groups and found that creating a picture (rather than simply looking at and sorting famous pieces of art) relieved anxiety and decreased negative mood. In this study, they chose between using charcoal pencils, oil pastels, or even regular colored pencils, and the drawings themselves weren’t evaluated, just the anxiety levels and mood of the people after they were done.

One study found that creating mandalas minimized the symptoms of trauma in PTSD patients a month after patients engaged in this activity just three times. Creating a mandala allows you to process some of what you are feeling by including symbols that represent what you have been through in your life, triumphs that you have had, challenges you’ve faced, or anything else that is important to you without getting into the “story” of it, and potentially triggering rumination. The practice also allows you to root yourself in the moment as you create a piece of art, and can free you from concerns about whether the pictures look “good” or even realistic.

There is also research supporting the simple coloring of mandalas as a stress relief tool: a study of 50 college students found that coloring pre-printed mandalas reduced anxiety in people more than coloring a plaid pattern or drawing a picture.