Last month I shared a bit about my journey, and the impact chronic pain can have.
Art therapy can help manage chronic pain by serving as a distraction, being focused on a creative process and not the pain, you are engaging your brain in a different way and shifting your focus away from the pain signals, and potentially lowering your perception of the pain severity.
This has been my experience. I typically put on music that I love to listen to, and I make some art. I can get so into the flow that for that time, all I am aware of is the colors and shapes I am putting down on the canvas or paper.
Painting to music encourages relaxation, activates the release of endorphins, which are natural painkillers, and taps into more of our emotions and can help us to express them more through the art-making process.
Some key benefits of painting to music for pain relief are:
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Distraction and Focus: What we pay attention to is where our brain will always take us. Music and art making bring our focus on something enjoyable and provide a mental escape and reduce the perceived intensity of pain.
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Emotional expression and Processing: Artmaking helps us express thoughts and emotions when words don’t come or work for us. Colors, shapes and lines help us process the frustration, fear, or hopelessness of chronic pain.
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Stress and Anxiety Reduction: Soothing musing and the gentle movement of drawing or painting have been shown to lower heart rate, blood pressure, and ease anxiety that can exacerbate pain.
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Restoring Control and Identity: Creative activities gives us ownership of our time and the creative process, shifting our focus from suffer to creator.
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Neurochemical Changes: Music and art making can stimulate dopamine and endorphin production, which helps to lift our mood and acts as a natural pain inhibitor.
Making this a practice
Find a space you are comfortable in and can spend at least 30 minutes uninterrupted. Put on music that you love and make any kind of art you want. I like to do scribble art using both my hands. It gets me moving and bypasses judgment. I’m not trying to make a pretty picture, I’m just butting down how I am feeling in that moment. But any type of art making will do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap0NejShM2I
