Can painting aid recovery?
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Pain relief by concentration.
If you have ever suffered a serious illness or had an operation that is likely to take your body time to recover you will know how difficult it is to control pain, yes there are some serious pain killers on offer and no doubt the doctors will prescribe them for you, but wouldn't it be better to try other forms of pain killing and a more natural way to help your body to deal with pain.
I believe the body will cope with most forms of pain if trained to do so, as all pain is transposed through the brain so it seems logical to focus our attention on that area. The brains capability to deal with many things at the same time makes it the ideal target for training.
Painting can be the pathway to increased meditation and concentration and therefore a form of painkilling overlooked by most. One of the obvious benefits is that by using less chemical pain killers your body doesn't get used to them and when required they will have a greater effect.
The effects of pain on recovery from illness or injury
It has been suggested that pain slows down the healing or recovery process, pain creates stress and the body becomes preoccupied with the stress more than with the recovery.I am not advocating that you should stop taking the pain killers what i am saying is that with your mind preoccupied with meditation on producing a piece of art the pain relief can get on with the job it has to do.
Over the last 5 years i have had a major operation and a serious illness and each time i can attribute my recovery to my state of mind, yes i had pain and sometimes it was severe but i used my art as a pathway to meditation so that the mind was free from the thoughts of constant pain or feelings of ill health. I actually recovered from a hip operation in 4 1/2 weeks going back to work in the 5th week.
The feel good factor
It really doesn't matter what you paint or even what the finished piece of art looks like, don't try and be your own critic as it may stop you from enjoying the process of making art. If for instance you want to paint a tree just paint what you see, the idea is that your concentration on trying to get it right will lead you to a meditative state and therefore take your thoughts of pain away.
When you have produced your art be proud of what you have done, it will give you the feel good factor and that will give you the lift that will aid in your recovery, the better you feel in the mind the better you will feel in the body.
Happy art production everybody.
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Thank you for your comments UrsulaRose
I believe art is in the doing and not in the end result, what is pleasing to one persons eye maybe displeasing to another. Abstract becomes mainstream if enough people like it.
For the purpose of distracting the mind away from pain i believe it doesn't matter to us what it looks like, it matter only in the memory of what it felt like.
My wife suffered a stroke,lost her speech at the age of 32...but finds great release in crafting and card making...she loves it. At times we paint together..watercolours,mixed media,etc. and she loses herself in this for hours on end, so I agree fully with all you have written, Silver. I enjoyed your artical alot!!
Thank you for your comment BrendyMac.
I believe that art has been overlooked by the medical profession as an aid to recovery. Everyone i have spoken to including my own doctor agrees that art is good for the soul and therfore will give you that feelgood factor and sense of well being.
I am sorry to hear about your wife and hope she is well on the pathway to recovery now.
Silverspeeder this is a great idea. In fact it is more than an 'idea'! In our community I am a member of an Arts and Crafts Society and we have members doing exactly what you suggest in the Title. Yes I agree that painting can aid recovery and release from pain :-)
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UrsulaRose Level 3 Commenter 15 months ago
Lovely hub article. Art Therapy as a form of Pain Relief.
Whenever I am able to do so I just love to throw paint onto canvas (abstract art style) as it helps me shift my focus away from being in pain.
I wouldn't consider myself an artist in the sense that I know that I do not have the skills to produce artwork similar to the pictures that you have chosen in your Hub article but I do enjoy not really knowing what my so-called 'therapy session' will produce.