ARTICLE

A THING OF BEAUTY
Adithyan Sathyanarayanan

Everything of nature is a thing of beauty and a source of pleasure. Some of them

are the sun, the moon, old and young trees, daffodil flowers, small streams with
clear water, mass of ferns and the blooming musk-roses. All of them are things of
beauty. They are a constant source of joy and pleasure.
Has covid-19 and the resulting restrictions precipitated an epidemic of mental
health conditions among children and young people? Many peers reviewed and
non-peer reviewed studies have reported fluctuating mental health and suicide risk
during the pandemic, but few focused on children and young people under the age
of 18. The signal to noise ratio is high and few studies include pre-pandemic
measures of mental health. Interpretation of those that do is difficult because of
differences in sampling frame, respondent (parent or child), response rates, timing
of data collection, and underlying trends in the prevalence of mental health
conditions. Studies of service use are confounded by pandemic related changes in
seeking help and in assessment, recognition of mental health conditions, diagnostic
practice, and provision of services.

Cooper is one of the many individuals who have experienced the benefits of art
therapy, an integrative treatment that uses artistic self-expression as a means of
improving mental health and well-being. And as individuals continue to work
through the mental health challenges brought on by the pandemic—which
triggered a 25 percent increase in depression and anxiety around the globe,
according to the World Health Organization—this niche therapy is poised to
become even more popular. The pandemic brought up many difficult-to-define
feelings and emotions and making art in the presence of a licensed therapist can be
a mindful, low-tech way to work through them.

With recent advances in biological, cognitive and neurological science, there are
new forms of evidence on the arts and the brain. For example, researchers have
used biofeedback to study the effects of visual art on neural circuits and

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neuroendocrine markers to find biological evidence that visual art promotes health,
wellness and fosters adaptive responses to stress.

In another study, cognitive neuroscientists found that creating art reduces cortisol
levels (markers for stress), and that through art people can induce positive mental
states. These studies are part of a new field of research, called neuroesthetics: the
scientific study of the neurobiological basis of the arts.

Neuroesthetics uses brain imaging, brain wave technology and biofeedback to

gather scientific evidence of how we respond to the arts. Through this, there is
physical, scientific evidence that the arts engage the mind in novel ways, tap into
our emotions in healthy ways and make us feel good.

Despite increasing evidence published in top, peer-reviewed journals, on the

measurable benefits of the arts in education, such as increased academic
performance and the development of innovative thinking, the arts continue to be
marginalized in education. Could the study of neurasthenics finally provide the
evidence decision-makers require to prioritize the arts in education? If so, we may
be on the verge of a renaissance that remembers our human instinct to create. One
thing is certain: the mental health crisis affecting young people implicates a
systematic failure to provide the right tools for success. That should not be
acceptable to anyone.

Because art therapy can be particularly helpful when folks don’t have the words to
describe their experience or challenges, it’s ideally suited for improving mental
health and well-being in the wake of the pandemic, which gave rise to abstract
emotions like languishing and burnout. In AATA’s May 2020 coronavirus impact
report, therapists pointed out that individuals are simply tired of talking about the
pandemic and such feelings—and, because of all-day meetings on Zoom, talking in
general. During art therapy, they don’t have to say a word if they don’t want to—
but they can still work through their emotions. As one therapist noted in the
survey, many clients “welcome expressing themselves using art materials, giving
their brains a new task and their mouths a break.”

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 REFLECTIONS

Art therapy isn’t a cure-all, and it may not be the right approach for everyone—it
often works well as a complement to other traditional therapies, Kaimal says—but
it can have definite benefits. Still, researchers need to do more to fully understand
how, why, and when art therapy works. Much of the research draws on the anecdotal
experiences of clinicians and patients, and many studies have had small sample sizes,
Kaimal notes. Experts need to conduct more randomized control trials and larger-
scale quantitative studies to help sway health insurance companies to recognize art
therapy as a form of treatment—and pay for it. The field could also benefit from
additional evidence around how art therapy affects different populations. “Compared
to other mental health professions, we have a long way to go,” she says.
Being mindful is being aware and conscious of your thoughts and state of mind
without judgement. The cognitive-reflective aspects of the arts, in addition to their
ability to shift cognitive focus, make them especially effective as tools for
mindfulness. Specifically, engaging with visual art has been found to activate
different parts of the brain other than those taxed by logical, linear thinking; and
another study found that visual art activated distinct and specialized visual areas of
the brain.

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EVIDENCES:

Read an article on How Art Can

Help Us Improve Our
Mental Health.

Conducting an in-person interview

with people to understand the effects
of art on their mental health

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. How Making Art Helps Improve Mental Health | Science| Smithsonian Magazine
2. Brain research shows the arts promote mental health (theconversation.com)
3. https://www.artworkarchive.com/blog/how-covid-accelerated-the-evolution-of-the-art-
world
4. https://www.arts.gov/stories/magazine/2020/3/arts-time-covid
5. https://englishsummary.com/lesson/a-thing-of-beauty-summary-by-john-keats/