‘Mental health’ and ‘wellbeing’ are words that many people think about, but not many know the true meaning of. The World Health Organisation defines mental health as ‘a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community’ (World Health Organisation, 2022). This definition clearly outlines how being able to cope with life and having healthy outlets are important for people, especially doctors, to function.
Doctors are said to have one of the most stressful professions available, with them being responsible for the health and wellbeing of hundreds of patients. Such huge responsibilities come with possible feelings of stress, anxiety, and perhaps suicidal ideation. Doctors are evidenced as having higher suicide rates and more suicidal thoughts than individuals in other professions (Lindeman et al., 1996) This is supported by figures showing that male doctors have a varied relative risk of 1.1-3.4 compared to other professions, and 2.5-5.7 in females. It can be inferred that especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, these figures had risen, due to the immense pressure that was put on the healthcare professionals at this time in order to ensure that the public were safe, and patients were treated well. This highlights how clear strategies for dealing with these stresses are imperative for doctors and many other healthcare professionals to move forward and cope with their worries in a more effective way.
Possible outlets to help have been proposed, so I wanted to look into whether art therapy, specifically drawing, could possibly be effective in reducing stress. Art seems to be something that people do unconsciously, through doodles on a corner of a page or on a table. It is thought that art can be taken up as a hobby by individuals, and this could then have positive effects on their mental health as it keeps them busy and allows them to work through anything that they may be stressing them. Art can be used to help people deal with emotions that they may not otherwise address (Seaward, 1999). It gives a ‘cathartic experience’ which can help people manage and understand their struggles.
Stress can be effectively managed and reduced using art therapy (Martin et al., 2018). A report analysed 11 studies that each investigated the ‘effect of art interventions on stress’, and it was found that 8 out of 11 of the studies discovered a significant positive correlation in how drawing, painting and other forms of art are extremely effective at reducing stress (Martin et al., 2018). In addition, it was found that patients undergoing bone marrow transplants that had practiced art therapy experienced increased positive feelings (Gabriel et al., 2001). Art therapy helps people develop healthier coping skills, as shown by Lane (2005) who states that 'art can cause physiological and neurological changes where neurotransmitters are released to help cause feelings of relaxation and happiness'. These clearly support art therapy as being effective for all types of stresses, not just work-related stress. They highlight that art therapy can be a good method for any person to carry out in order to reduce their stress and cope with life better.
As a 1st year medical student, I experience many bouts of stress about the immense workload that I have to deal with, and also anxiety about my future as a junior doctor. Upon realising the negative impact this was having on my mental health, I decided to attempt to
draw my emotions onto the page. I allocated an hour a day for two weeks to drawing using a pencil and paper, which also gave me time to be by myself without any distractions or anything that could possibly be stress-inducing.
Towards the end of the two weeks, I realised that the art therapy was extremely effective in helping me manage my stress. I found that I was able to express the emotions that I previously suppressed, onto the page and was able to fully immerse myself and forget about anything that may have worried me. Creating art can be a way for people to vent their emotions that they may not otherwise want to express (Park and Cargill, 2014). Overall being able to do this helped me better understand and process my emotions, meaning I could learn how to manage my stress in a way that would not negatively impact my mental health.
I believe that as future doctors, it is imperative for me and other medical students to develop healthy coping mechanisms and take up hobbies that would help reduce our stresses from our profession. This is because we would be responsible for many patients and their wellbeing, and we have a duty of care towards them. Not being able to cope with life may potentially put these patients at risk, so it is important for their wellbeing that we have a good work-life balance. Also, we would be working in high stress environments, so it is important for our own mental health that we engage in hobbies outside of medicine that would help us work through our emotions and help reduce the stress that we may feel. As I stated earlier, suicide rates are much higher amongst doctors than any other profession, so maintaining good mental health is extremely important for us.
To conclude, it can be said that art in the form of drawing and painting is extremely effective, as evidenced by multiple sources and my own experiences. However, others believe that music may be another form of art therapy that is more effective at reducing stress than just drawing or painting. Finn & Fancourt (2018) conducted a meta-analysis of 44 studies investigating whether music caused a reduction in cortisol production, and the analysis found that there was a significant reduction in cortisol levels when participants had listened to music. This may show that music helps reduce stress levels in people and has a positive effect on them. Based on my experience, however, I feel that drawing is still an extremely effective method to reduce stress. It had assisted me in understanding and working through my emotions and was an effective distractor from my worries. In the future as a doctor, I believe that I would employ this method to help distract myself and cope with the daily stresses of life better.
References:
Finn, S. and Fancourt, D. (2018) “The biological impact of listening to music in clinical and nonclinical settings: A systematic review,” Progress in Brain Research, pp. 173–200. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.03.007.
Gabriel, B. et al. (2001) ‘Art Therapy with Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Patients in Isolation: A Pilot Study,’ Psycho-Oncology, 10(2), pp. 114–123. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.498.
Lane, M.R. (2005) “Creativity and Spirituality in Nursing,” Holistic Nursing Practice, 19(3), pp. 122–125. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1097/00004650-200505000-00008.
Lindeman, S. et al. (1996) “A systematic review on gender-specific suicide mortality in medical doctors,” British Journal of Psychiatry, 168(3), pp. 274–279. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.168.3.274.
Martin, L. et al. (2018) ‘Creative arts interventions for stress management and prevention—a systematic review,’ Behavioral Sciences, 8(2), p. 28. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/bs8020028.
Pack, M. and Cargill, J. (2014) ‘Evidence Discovery and Assessment in Social Work Practice.’ Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.
Seaward, B.L. (1999) ‘Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Wellbeing.’ Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
World Health Organization (2022). ‘Mental Health - World Health Organization’. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response (Accessed: April 6, 2023).