Sick? Watching a little art works better than a fruit basket

« A poem in the morning, and you look at your worries differently. » With these words, the writer Adrian van Dis praised the book last fall The Poetry Pharmacy from Philip Huff. The book gave a variety of poetry that you could read when you were depressed, lonely or abandoned. The idea that poetry could be promoted mental health has been around for some time – and stems from the idea that art can grow empathy. There are even institutions, such as The Institute for Medicinewhere a poem was sought for every state of mind.

In addition to tips from enthusiasts to take certain sentences, there are also doctors who prescribe museum visit as a medicine. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) already listed how art could influence health, and since then that idea has been taken over more often. The most recent enthusiastic embrace of that idea recently took place in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, where a two -year pilot started last month: doctors prescribe recipes ‘museum visit’. With such a note, patients can enter for free in any museum in the city. This may involve burnout complaints, but also in preparation for surgery or to prevent headaches, writes AP news agency. So far, five hundred art recipes have been written out by doctors.

Neuchâtel does not have the scoop. The idea started in 2018 in the Canadian Museum Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where they thought that not only movement and nature walks can prevent diseases, but looking can also have a positive effect. The idea was found interesting by other museums and art disciplines, but initially they found little resonance, says initiator and then museum director Nathalie Bondil, in The Guardian. In Montreal research From that museum visit is good for people with, for example, eating disorders, ADHD and heart problems.

In 2019 one followed WHO reportin which it was confirmed that those who visit a museum, theater or concert are delaying the aging of brain and reducing the chance of dementia. According to this report, art can also be reduced the impact of someone who has a trauma and – in short – the chance of ‘early death’. Since 2022, the plans have been extended in Montpellier, southern French. There began in 2022 Mo.co (Montpellier Contemporain) A collaboration with the Psychiatric Emergency Department and Post-Pood Care (DUPUP) of the Academic Hospital of Montpellier under the title ‘Art on recipe’.

Art as a punitive measure

With literature, these kinds of action were already done before, not by doctors but by judges. Reading was used as a punitive measure. In 2012, for example, a road pirate from a Belgian court was commissioned Tonio from Afth van der Heijden, the novel about the death of his son who was hit by a truck. In the United States came in 2017 A judge with the assignment that young people who had blown racist slogans on a wall had to read novels. He gave them a list of 35 books – on which works by Elie Wiesel, Maya Angelou and Khaled Hosseini were, among others – – of which they had to choose five. Every week they had to come back to talk about one of the works. For example, art (literature) was used to achieve behavioral change. This worked to the extent that there was no recidivism, but the question is whether it is a good idea to use art as a punitive measure, because the arts association as a punishment work cooperates little in a good image.

That is therefore different with doctors who prescribe museum visit. It is stated here that art can be healing, and not just for your mental condition, but for the whole body – and that idea is increasingly imaginating. The government institution Mass Cultural Council In Boston there is even the mission to link cultural offering and health care to each other (as long as it still takes with the cutbacks from the Trump government on, among other things, health care and culture). « There are many health problems that we cannot treat adequately, such as stress and trauma, chronic diseases that we know have a huge impact on other diseases and lifespan, » the organization writes on its site. She did research into the elaboration of art on health and here too the results were positive. Reason to start Culturerx in 2022.

Now that the results are positive, researchers expect the recipes to be extended to theater and concerts, according to The Guardian. Such initiatives do not really exist in the Netherlands – although doctors have argued for Music after operations – But with these research results, with rising healthcare premiums from 2027, the Museum Year card in the healthcare premium package might be a good idea.

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