A museum visit can do wonders for you, even if you don’t consider yourself an art connoisseur. After some institutions around the world have launched programs in which doctors prescribe a trip to the museum, mounting evidence shows that the benefits are real. In turn, this has prompted the creation of even more programs of this kind to help people treat many conditions, from anxiety to high blood pressure.
Starting in November 2018, Montreal doctors began prescribing visits to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in an effort described as a world first. “An adjuvant to conventional treatment, these unprecedented prescriptions will enable patients, accompanied by family or caregivers, to enjoy the health benefits of art on a free visit to the Museum,” the museum explained at time the program was launched. The Montreal program was sadly halted due to the pandemic but it is developing a new project centered around group activities rather than self-guided museum tours.
Since the Canadian program’s inception, similar efforts have popped up in Belgium, France, the United States, and (most recently) Switzerland, where physicians in of Neuchâtel are now issuing “museum prescriptions” to any of the town’s four museums. “We’ll give them a chance to get physical and intellectual exercise,” Dr. Marc-Olivier Sauvain, head of surgery at the Neuchatel Hospital Network, told AP News. “And as a doctor, it’s really nice to prescribe museum visits rather than medicines or tests that patients don’t enjoy.”
These efforts are also based on findings from the World Health Organization (WHO), which in 2019 issued a review on the matter. After checking 3,000 studies made over two decades, WHO identified that the arts play a major role in the prevention of health issues, promotion of health, as well as the management and treatment of illness across a person’s lifespan. On top of this, these “museum prescriptions” provide another vehicle to doctors trying to solve issues such as isolation and loneliness.
“Research tells us that simply being in these types of aesthetic environments can positively shift how we feel, think, and behave,” Dr. Tasha Golden, who has evaluated the Massachusetts program, told The Guardian. “We also know that museums can provide opportunities for social interaction, which can reduce loneliness and isolation.”
The researcher adds that the pieces in an exhibition can also have an effect on a patient on their own. “Of course, exhibited items themselves—and the process of placing attention on specific pieces or collections—can elicit interest, curiosity, wonder, learning, mindfulness, which can all be beneficial for mental health.”
While it has proven to be beneficial to people from all walks of life, these prescriptions should be properly tailored to each individual. Dr. Golden says, “You wouldn’t want to recommend a car museum to someone who’d strongly prefer to see paintings, and you wouldn’t want to prescribe a museum visit to someone who’d strongly prefer a different type of cultural experience.”
If the patient doesn’t feel comfortable in a museum, scientists have also spotted similar health benefits in art and leisure activities, such as doing arts and crafts, photography, or simply taking a walk in nature.
Mounting evidence shows that “museum prescriptions”, in which doctors send their patients to museums, have real benefits.
In turn, this has prompted the creation of more programs of the kind to help people treat many conditions, from anxiety to high blood pressure.
After a pioneering program in Montreal, similar efforts have popped up in Belgium, France, Massachussets, Scotland, and most recently Switzerland.
Sources: Take two Van Goghs daily: the growing popularity of museum prescriptions; Arts on prescription?; Stressed? Sick? Swiss town lets doctors prescribe free museum visits as art therapy for patients; What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review; MMFA-MFdC Museum Prescriptions: Museum Visits Prescribed by Doctors; CultureRx Initiative; Art as therapy: Swiss doctors prescribe museum visits; Why vegetables and museum visits could soon come by prescription; Doctors in Brussels Can Now Prescribe Museum Visits For Mental Health; New Research Suggests That Doing Arts and Crafts Can Improve Your Mental Health
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