Art and medicine are indeed complementary. Through the ages, they have been linked in many ways. The study of anatomy is inherent to the drawing student’s basic courses, as it is to the medical student. And, the process of drawing anatomy can help the doctor-to-be to memorize parts and contours of the body, as it can teach the artist to respect and care for their own body. Leonardo Da Vinci’s anatomical drawings are still used by medical schools for examples.
The very processes of art are therapeutic. Medically, it has been proven that physical therapy can be enhanced by creative projects. Knitting and crafts are often prescribed for recovering patients. The mental health aspects of art are not lost to the academic medical community, either. Art therapy is a well-respected facet of institutions and elder-care, as well as those working with all children and adults.
Medicine has studied artists for all sorts of answers about the neurochemistry of creativity and inspiration. The mind-body-spirit connections have an important link with the art process. The uplifting flow state of concentration has its own wavelength in the brain. Wouldn’t they like to be able to put that into a bottle for prescription?
Artists have long been asked to design models of working body parts and even DNA molecules for medical studies and instruction. Medicine uses these art forms to show to both patients and the press, and in the medical schools. Sculpture techniques are used in forming casts, and cosmetic surgery. Some of the same skills are used in stitching up wounds as well as fiber arts. Prosthetics are works of art, with some mechanics thrown into the designs. Plastic fabrication and jewelry techniques have come into play with some of these devices, so there is a shared technology. Breakthroughs in one field can help another.
Many artists are employed with website design, instruction and interpretation for hospitals and insurers. The visualization of concepts is something that artists can apply to any field, but it is perhaps essential in the medical field, which serves the full range of humanity, and is multi-cultural. Images translate better than most languages. So, the global medicine practiced by health organizations and charities is very complementary to art. Even graphic facial expressions, illustrated, are used to determine pain levels
Historically, artists recorded operations and medical procedures in fine art as well as for illustrated textbooks. Herbals and native medicines can be shown through art across any borders of culture or language. Exercises and physical therapy are also enhanced by artistic instructions and illustrations. All those take-home brochures and booklets are designed by artists for simple-to-follow self-help, as preventive or follow-up instruction.
A little art can cheer patients in hospitals, as chapels and stained-glass can sustain the spirit of both patients and caregivers. The positive focus of uplifting art has been proven to calm and encourage healing. Art can be medicine. The arts help the medical world in a myriad of ways, both practical and aesthetic.
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