Arts for Health – serie

In the last decade, digital games have been reinvented as vehicles of self-expression, sense-making, empathy, and healing, rather than just as tools of distraction from pain or discomfort.But aren’t games supposed to whisk us away to a magical world of fun and fantasy and distract us from reality? Why would we want to confront life’s challenges or hardships, for example, terminal illness, when playing a game?Reimagining how we understand health, illness, life, and death, gaming expert Sandra Danilovic advocates for the potential games have to transform healthcare practices beyond the clinic or hospital in the way we care for each other and for ourselves. From the experimental and the accessible to virtual reality and interactive fiction, and even providing a DIY guide for creating your own digital games, Danilovic draws on the untapped resources this emerging art form has to offer for exploring health and healthcare experiences more fully and inclusively.Bridging the virtual world of gaming with our physical reality, Danilovic delivers a new paradigm for thinking about games as a dynamic art technology that can transform how we understand, represent, practice, and support our health and well-being, making this a must-read for healthcare practitioners, family carers, and researchers in health humanities, as well as the curious amateur gamer.

Photography is ubiquitous. The visual image is the predominant form of communication. Arguably it is a very democratic medium, since billions of people all over the planet take photographs on their phones, and digital storage means that expensive printing is not necessary and therefore the practice is not prohibitive. Photography is important to political and social movements and connects people in emotionally meaningful relationships.This book explores the myriad ways in which photographs can be used: to document events, places or things; to consolidate personal identity; to pose a challenge to an idea or regime; to animate the inanimate (in other words, to breathe life into objects); to capture the fleeting and transitory; to create stories; to reveal what may be taken for granted, including seeing social practices; to enhance our perception and allow us to notice previously unnoticed details; to consolidate relationships; to represent the overlooked or marginalised; to commemorate; to authenticate; to tantalise. All these modes of photography have different possibilities, different intentions and different effects.

History has been a source of cultural fascination since ancient times, however little attention has been paid to its potential as a positive force for health and wellbeing, at least until now. Presenting the benefits of historical engagement, and practical tips for making the most of it, Anna Greenwood considers the power this discipline has to spur better health outcomes.A ground-breaking work for history buffs and healthcare providers alike, this new instalment in the Arts for Health series by one of the leading scholars in modern health history advocates for history’s ability to deepen sympathies, broaden imaginations, and create community beyond the customary restrictions of time and geography.

Painting is one of humanity’s oldest creative practices. In recent decades, there has been an increasing amount of scientific evidence on the use of such practices in the promotion of physical and psychological health. In the field of public health, painting has proven an effective and efficient resource for maintaining or improving human wellbeing.The first publication of its kind, this latest instalment in the Arts for Health series presents painting as a healing tool for all ages. Offering practical tips for how the health benefits of painting can be accessed through individual and home practice as well as through community events such as workshops, Saavedra, Arias-Sánchez and Rodríguez-Gómez delve into the myriad of benefits that painting can provide.Easily digestible for interested general readers, as well as for busy health and social care practitioners looking to enhance care environments, Painting serves as a succinct, engaging, and informative guide on how this creative practice can help improve or maintain health and wellbeing, both within and outside of professional settings.

Extraordinary feats of conjuring have long entertained and astounded audiences. However, few people realise that magic also has the power to improve health and to enhance wellbeing. Join magician, author, and psychologist Richard Wiseman as he journeys into this secretive world and uncovers the surprising therapeutic and educational benefits of making the impossible possible.Written for both performers and practitioners, this comprehensive but accessible guide describes the many ways in which watching and learning magic helps people. Discover how hospital magicians promote the recovery of patients, how occupational therapists teach tricks that boost movement and coordination, how counsellors conjure up life skills, and how illusions enhance curiosity and learning in the classroom. Along the way, Wiseman reveals some of the amazing but simple tricks of the trade, presents key initiatives from around the world, explores academic research examining the efficacy of magic-based interventions, and interviews experienced practitioners carrying out this work.The first publication of its kind, Magic is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand and utilise the real magic of magic.

Body art, especially tattoos and piercings, has enjoyed an explosion of interest in recent years. However, the response of many health professionals and researchers to this phenomenon is often negative, as body art continues to be associated with issues ranging from ill mental health to offending behaviors.Arguing for a reappraisal of the diverse range of practices that fall under this heading, Brian Brown and Virginia Kuulei Berndt reconsider body art as an underappreciated yet accessible source for mental and physical wellbeing. How, they ask, does body art open up new sources of community, sociality, and aesthetics? How is it used for the reclamation of one’s body, as a marker of success or accomplishment, or for building friendships? How does participation in these practices impact the health and wellbeing of body artists themselves?Providing a radical rethink that integrates tattoos and other body modifications within health, wellbeing, and positive psychology, Body Art disrupts the narrative of stigmatisation that so often surrounds these practices to welcome a broader discussion of the benefits they can offer.

Healthcare faces immense challenges. Ensuring both clinicians and the public remain healthy to negotiate a world of increasing complexity, misinformation and uncertainty is urgent. Does scientific knowledge help them do this?In Thinking, healthcare professionals and researchers Brown, Harvey Bluemel, and Coccia explore how philosophy can help us think differently about health. Drawing from history, culture, literature, and lived experience, they trace the deep connections between ideas, healing, and human flourishing. Each chapter offers accessible explanations of key philosophical ideas, with examples and exercises to help readers bring those ideas into their own lives.This book invites readers to slow down and give thinking the attention it deserves. Thinking is a guide, but also an invitation to ask better questions; make space for reflection; and to rediscover the value of thought in an age that prizes speed and certainty over depth and understanding.

Healthcare faces immense challenges. Ensuring both clinicians and the public remain healthy to negotiate a world of increasing complexity, misinformation and uncertainty is urgent. Does scientific knowledge help them do this?In Thinking, healthcare professionals and researchers Brown, Harvey Bluemel, and Coccia explore how philosophy can help us think differently about health. Drawing from history, culture, literature, and lived experience, they trace the deep connections between ideas, healing, and human flourishing. Each chapter offers accessible explanations of key philosophical ideas, with examples and exercises to help readers bring those ideas into their own lives.This book invites readers to slow down and give thinking the attention it deserves. Thinking is a guide, but also an invitation to ask better questions; make space for reflection; and to rediscover the value of thought in an age that prizes speed and certainty over depth and understanding.

Diving into this beloved practice, Creative Writing explores how the written word can be used as a therapeutic tool in pursuit of improved mental health and wellbeing.Exploring a variety of settings, including group writing, writing alone, and even workshopping online, pracademic duo Mark Pearson and Helen Foster design and deliver a series of contemporary case studies related to mental health, menopause, mindfulness and psychosis.Imagining new, introspective outlets for the support of mental and physical wellbeing, Pearson and Foster draw on their clinical and archival expertise to equip both healthcare professionals and general readers to unleash their creativity and unlock the comfort and creativity that putting pen to paper can bring.

Video is everywhere. But what is video art and how does it differ from cinema? What connections has it made with healthcare and medicine? And what implications might these connections have for how we approach our physical and mental health?Breaking new ground, Video acts as an accessible introduction to the potential value of this medium within medical practice, patient care and everyday creative expression. Pairing examples with specific health conditions and themes, author John Quin presents a series of video artworks and their potential benefit for patients, clinicians and carers. Heeding the rise of ‘amateur’ forms of video-making, shared through platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, Quin also considers how the wide reach and convenience of social media is impacting health and wellbeing as popular interest in the medium continues to evolve.Featuring suggestions for both further reading and further viewing, Video navigates uncharted territory on behalf of artists, medical professionals and anyone interested in how video deals with health.

The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online.Dance and movement are everywhere and for everyone with a body, any body. Dancing can be enjoyed in a wide range of settings without the need for additional resources or supplies. But this is not always the way that dance is perceived or experienced.Written to guide both the general public and carers and professionals in health contexts, Dancing explores the ways in which dance is being utilised to tackle health challenges, including fall prevention, depression and Parkinson’s. Prioritising safe and inclusive practices, dance experts and advocates Noyale Colin and Kathryn Stamp equip readers with practical ideas for using dance and movement in developing their bodily awareness, sense of self and engagement with others, key factors in maintaining healthy identities and improving social relationships.Drawing on studies which reveal contemporary ideas about non-clinical and community-based methods for health and wellbeing through dance, Colin and Stamp offer a range of guided activities for people to undertake, information on how to get involved in dance and over a dozen case studies to inspire the exploration of dance’s unique power as both a physical and a creative activity.Channelling a new application for an ancient creative practice, Dancing encourages all of us, no matter our age, circumstances or ability, to rediscover this beloved form of movement.

Can reading literature really help our mental health? This book shows how and why - not by instruction or prescription but by emotion and exploration. Offering case histories of individual readers and reading groups based on the work of The Reader, a charity dedicated to bringing serious literature to neglected communities, the authors showcase how a whole new demographic might get into reading, and in doing so unlock the emotional intelligence and benefits to health and wellbeing which come from our access to written human stories and imagined situations.

Our world is inundated by film. Our best stories are told on movie screens, on televisions, on smartphones and laptops. Film argues that on-screen storytelling is the most ubiquitous format for art to intersect with health and well-being, offering a way for us to appreciate, understand and even celebrate the most nuanced and complex notions of what it means to be healthy through the stories that we watch unfolding. Clinicians use film to better understand their patients, and individuals use film to better understand themselves and each other.Using case histories and based on academic research from a range of disciplines, this book explores how film can be used by clinicians and healthcare practitioners to better understand patients; by individuals to better understand themselves and others; and – perhaps most important of all – by societies as a tool in the fight against the stigma of illness. This book not only makes the case that film keeps us healthy, but also tells us how. After all, nothing quite moves us like the movies.

Music is an art form but also a social activity. It is a part of every human society, contributing to community, culture, and a sense of group identity. It is also fundamental to individual identity and personal well-being. In Music, Eugene Beresin traces the possible applications of musical expression for human health and happiness.At the heart of Music are powerful examples from the lives of real individuals, families, and populations. These stories cover a myriad of ages, instruments, situations, and purposes, to convey the universal power of music to help us all get more out of life.Offering practical ideas for integrating musical practice into a wide range of settings from the medical to the personal, Beresin provides a compelling evocation of the healing power of music. It is a must-read for practitioners, teachers, counsellors, and lovers of the art form.

Drawings are everywhere. Daubed on ancient cave walls and projected on screens. Drawings helps us describe science, depict emotions and discover. Yet many of us laid aside drawing - or more simply, mark-making - in childhood, thereby losing a rich and varied way to tell our stories.This book gathers research evidence to demonstrate the substantial value of drawing for health, healthcare and improving wellbeing. It is for anyone interested in engaging in drawing - the low-cost, low-tech, and flexible process which is easily tailored to clients, parents, carers and professionals.The activities featured in the book are distilled from the author’s experience of two decades facilitating drawing. Drawing is easily integrated in health and wellbeing contexts and benefits both our mental and physical health. Practically, it can record observations, make visual notes, invite the telling of important stories, improve stress and anxiety, express feelings, and explain complexities. This important book encourages readers to enjoy mark-making once again and learn that thinking through drawing is a powerful life skill that enriches health and wellbeing.

We are 'hard-wired' to sing - singing has defined our evolution. Through singing we express our feelings, communicate and connect with others. We are all singers: singing is part of us and defines cultures worldwide. Singing also, importantly, makes us feel better: it is, undoubtedly, good for us.This book provides an important overview of current research showing the benefits of singing on our health and wellbeing. Case studies illustrate its power - for example, how singing helps hospitalised children and a man living with Parkinson's. The book also discusses potential barriers for singing and useful strategies needed to overcome them. An example of a community singing group is also demonstrated, alongside practical advice on facilitating community singing groups for health and wellbeing. The book will be valuable to professionals working in health and social care settings, to practitioners and educators interested in engaging in singing for health promotion, and individuals looking to find out more about the benefits and practicalities of singing.

Humans have engaged in theatre for at least 50,000 years for good reason: it builds social connections, provides opportunities to learn, and creates meaning through storytelling. Perhaps most importantly, it is an enjoyable, and therefore self-reinforcing, activity. Theatre offers readers an introduction to the role that theatre plays in health and wellbeing, and provides guidance on how to incorporate it into professional health and social care environments, community spaces, and the family home. The book provides an overview of the current evidence demonstrating the effects of theatre on specific domains of health and wellbeing, including mental health, physical health, and public health, as well as its impacts on the education of health and social care professionals. Case studies illustrate the broad range of applied theatre methods currently in use across the human lifespan - from bedside theatre performed for children in hospital to theatre workshops for people living with dementia and theatre-based interpersonal communication training for medical students. Theatre also delivers plenty of practical advice on how to bring theatre into health and social care environments, including step-by-step instructions for specific activities, insights into potential barriers, and (most importantly) strategies needed to overcome them with empathy, collaboration, and creativity. This volume will be useful to professionals working in health and social care settings, as well as to theatre artists and educators who already are or who would like to work in health or social care settings with special populations.