Prescription for Art: Take As Needed
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There’s a town in Switzerland called Neuchâtel. Situated on a lake, you can see picturesque views of an old castle or stroll along the streets. Sounds like a nice place to visit. But what if you lived there?
What if, since you lived there, you went to your medical provider and told them you were feeling stressed or sad or burnt out with work and they gave you a prescription to visit the local museum?
That’s exactly what this town is doing. They started a program to work with providers for a free visit to a museum or art gallery or the garden with a prescription.
Why? Did you know that there is scientific evidence that shows that art can have positive effects on your health? The World Health Organization (WHO) actually did a study back in 2019 that showed that art has numerous benefits for mental health. But what arts do they mean? All of them! Performing arts - dance, singing, music, theater. Visual arts - crafts, painting, photography, sculptures. Literature - writing, reading. Even digital arts - animations and graphics.
The impact was seen in prevention, treatment, and general promotion of health and wellbeing: psychological benefits, like emotional regulation and coping skills; physical benefits, like improving immune function, improving cardiovascular (heart) health, and lowering stress responses; social benefits and greater skill development; cognitive resilience. These benefits are found in childhood, adulthood, and the elderly. Everyone, everywhere benefits from art and culture.
We use some of this here too: music before surgery, painting and drawing for non-verbal communication, dancing for mental health, music to help people with dementia.
So, back to Neuchâtel. They remembered 2019 and that study by the WHO and how the COVID lockdowns made everyone so isolated. Definitely no museum visits during that time. And so, they thought, what if we prescribed culture as a treatment? They started with 500 prescription visits over the next year. They are thinking of expanding to theater visits, too. They hope, one day, insurance will even cover art and cultural needs.
While we can’t give you an actual prescription for art here in Texas (at least not yet), maybe it’s a good idea to go take a stroll through a garden or go take a photo of something you love or visit the closest art gallery.
Resources:
● https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-us/destinations/neuchatel/#InpageNavigation-Neuch%C3%A2tel%20at%20a%20glance
● https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/329834/9789289054553-eng.pdf?sequence=3