When you're in pain, what do you reach for? Pain? Heating pads? Numbing creams?
How about a brush?
Art therapy is widely accepted as a supportive therapy for cancer patients, but it is mostly used to help patients deal with emotional complications. Since the therapy is considered as a way to help patients tap into the feelings difficult to express, the American Cancer Society specifically recommends for patients who face anxiety, fear or depression.
However, some patients may also be used to help deal with the pain caused by cancer.
A new study suggests that art therapy can help patients manage chronic discomfort ?? and in turn, improve their quality of life. Compared to other health conditions such as heart disease or kidney failure, chronic pain is one of the most serious negative effects on quality of life, so it is natural for one to improve along the other.
The study, which appears in the 2013 first edition of Arts and Health studied a small segment of patients with a Canadian hospital. Participants were required only to meet two qualifying criteria: They needed to be in persistent pain, and they needed to be actively artistic creation. Their art could be something of poetry or painting to carpentry or photography.
When asked to rate their pain on a scale from zero (no pain) to 10 (extreme pain), patients reported an average of 5.56. Most patients had been experiencing this discomfort for at least five to 10 years; seven had had to deal with it for at least a decade.
One patient ?? whose pain was from a poorly done surgery ?? said the pain has not in some way, it is difficult to pursue art therapy. Most patients have had to work creatively art around their limitations such as fatigue, lack of concentration, and difficulty to remain comfortable in a unique position for a long period of time.
However, as patients continued to make artistic creation a regular part of their lives, they said it was their favorite way to escape the cancer experience.
"At the suggestion of my therapist," a patient wrote: "I began drawing and painting as a distraction from the pain. "
Another began waving wool rugs to fill the time late at night when the pain prevented them from sleeping.
" It feels so much better to pick up my work and the hook through the night when I can not sleep and having to move, "the patient registered on their questionnaire.
More than a distraction
Although this is a healthy distraction mechanism and very effective, art therapy serves several other healing purposes for some patients, it is a way to feel respected;. for others, it is a way to create a connection to others in the face of a highly isolating disease.
Perhaps better than most, mesothelioma patients include the insulating nature of the pain. most patients experience with mesothelioma, a dull ache in the construction of their chest or abdomen. This pain prevents many patients to perform the essential tasks ?? much less attend social outings with friends.
In the study, many patients felt that their art helped to cope with feelings of loneliness.
"There are so many social stigmas and barriers associated with chronic pain," wrote one patient. "It's hard not to lose hope and courage, but the creative efforts ?? can change your vision and make you feel less isolated. "
Art therapy also serves as a way for patients to take control of their lives at a time when everything seems so uncertain. Again, the patients with mesothelioma experience this at a high level, the aggressive nature of their treatment resistant cancer can be particularly difficult to manage
"You have to accept your sufficient condition to go ??. not to the point where you give up and give in, "a noted artist.
This acceptance can be the key to recovery, research suggests. Several studies agree that patients can actively accept the presence of their pain have higher levels of emotional functioning, physical and social. And find meaning in their experience, patients can focus on the broader recovery ?? not just the part where they have to go through the pain to get better.
Have you heard of art therapy before? Do you want to try? Have you ever tried? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook.
