Mental Health and the Arts

John Geddes

University of Oxford

Mental health

• Defined mental disorders (depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, dementia

•“Mental health” – milder degrees of low mood, anxiety, stress, social risk factors for defined mental disorders

Art

• Includes many activities

• Seems like a “good thing”

• Not free, potential risks – therefore needs proper evaluation

Level of intervention

Society/communityHealth care environment

Professional trainingIndividual person

Society/community

• Aim: health promotion, avoidance of medicalisation

• Outcomes • Prevention of mental disorder• Reduction of risk factors• Promotion of social inclusion

• Evaluation: social science methodology

Health care environment

• Aim: complementary• Outcomes

• Promotion of recovery• Positive interaction with therapies• Promotion of social inclusion

• Evaluation: qualitative, ?necessary

Professional training

• Aim: improve clinician’s ability to work with

• Outcomes • Promotion of recovery• Positive interaction with therapies• Promotion of social inclusion

• Evaluation: qualitative, ?necessary

Specific interventions with individuals with mental disorders

• Aim: to improve health status• Outcomes

• Symptom reduction• Promotion of recovery• Improvement of quality of life• Reduce risk of relapse• Promote reintegration

• Evaluation: Randomised evidence v. alternative therapies, to estimate relative benefits and costs; alternative designs for some outcomes

Quick search of AMED, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and MEDLINE. Search strategy was:1 exp mental disorders/ (1210021)2 (art therapy or music therapy or play therapy).sh. (9829)3 exp sensory art therapies/ (21402)4 exp creative arts therapy/ (3862)5 or/2-4 (29919)6 1 and 5 (4262)7 6 and random$.mp. (129)8 remove duplicates from 7 (118)