Art a cure for pain!

Art seems to have a therapeutic effect especially when it comes to reducing pain and anxiety, says a study.

Art may be fun but, as a new research has found, it also seems to have a therapeutic effect especially when it comes to reducing pain and anxiety levels of people suffering with cancer.

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As a part of a new project, fifty patients from the inpatient oncology unit at Northwestern Memorial were enrolled in the study over a four-month period, and it was noted that they reported significant reductions in eight out of nine symptoms of pain, tiredness, nausea, depression, anxiety, drowsiness, lack of appetite, well-being and shortness of breath, measured by the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS), after spending an hour working on art projects of their choice.

It was also found that nausea was the only symptom that did not change as a result of the art therapy session.

Judith Paice, director, Cancer Pain Program, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and an author on the study, said that art therapy was found to be beneficial as it distracts people from thinking about their pain.

"Cancer patients are increasingly turning to alternative and complementary therapies to reduce symptoms, improve quality of life and boost their ability to cope with stress. Our study provides beginning evidence for the important role art therapy can play in reducing symptoms. Art therapy provides a distraction that allows patients to focus on something positive instead of their health for a time, and it also gives patients something they can control," she said.

Dr Paice added that it had proved to be especially beneficial for cancer patients who were uncomfortable with conventional psychotherapy.

"Art provides a vehicle for expression. It may be preferential to some cancer patients who may be uncomfortable with conventional psychotherapy or those who find verbal expression difficult," she added.

Nancy Nainis, an art therapist and the lead author on the study, said that the art sessions had led to a drop in the level of tiredness of the patients.

"We were especially surprised to find the reduction in 'tiredness'. Several subjects made anecdotal comments that the art therapy had energized them. This is the first study to document a reduction in tiredness as a result of art therapy," she said.