CREATIVITY & WELLBEING
Even a brief amount of time spent on a creative pastime has
powerful benefits for personal wellbeing, according to research commissioned by
BBC Arts.
An online survey of almost 50,000 people across the UK found that taking part in creative activities helps people manage stress, face up to challenges and explore solutions to problems in their lives.
Participants in the Great British Creativity Test, produced in partnership with University College London (UCL), were asked about which creative activities they took part in, including options in performing arts and music, visual arts, literature, and digital arts such as photography.
The survey also asked whether taking part in these activities helped people manage their emotions.
Researchers identified three key ways that creativity is used:
- as a ‘distraction tool’ to avoid stress
- as a ‘contemplation tool’, creating the mental space to reassess problems and make plans
- and for ‘self-development’, building self-esteem and confidence.
Encountering new creative activities – regardless of the level of skill involved – was found to have a particularly positive impact on emotions and wellbeing.
And while the study concludes that live face-to-face activities such as singing in a choir or taking part in a group painting class were the most effective, even isolated online creative activity led to a positive impact.
The findings have been used to create an online “Feel-Good Test” (See below), that will provide respondents with a personalised ‘feel good formula’ using the three key coping mechanisms identified.
More and more adults and children are being diagnosed as having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They may have been caught up in a war, natural disaster or suffered long term abuse. Some groups in society are more likely to experience it, including for example refugees and survivors of torture, survivors of domestic violence, survivors of physical and sexual abuse, looked-after children, and veterans. Creativity is playing an increasingly important part in their recovery process, through photography, film making, painting, choirs, theatre etc.
Having PTSD, can leave sufferers feeling stuck in the past. Telling your story helps you to become unstuck and to write a new ending for yourself.
Resources:
See “LiA Nurturing MH PPT”, a course to support the nurturing of mental health.
Creativity for well-being:
The art of connection; How creativity can help our mental health:
What is creative well-being:
The Double Helix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1myQsfI9Idx10b3I8J0DqNXUaIwkY4NkC/view
The Feel-Good Test:
https://nquire.org.uk/mission/the-feel-good-test
Young Scot, resources for supporting emotional health and wellbeing