Prescribing Arts Participation as a Path for Wellness

by Brian Robin

It’s not quite “take in two plays and call me in the morning.” But Dr. Tan Nguyen, a family practice physician at UC Irvine Medical Center, has a novel prescription in his pad, one he takes out and hands to patients as a first step toward not just whatever ailment brought them to his office, but as a step toward overall wellness.

It’s a blank sheet of paper, followed by doctor’s orders to draw a picture of themselves. Or Nguyen will put down his prescription pad, pick up a poetry book and prescribe a mutual poetry reading.

Welcome to social prescribing, a rapidly growing field in the medical community where physicians, social workers, counselors and other clinicians write prescriptions that connect patients with community services that can improve their health and overall wellness. Often, the prescription involves the arts.

“We’ve done a lot of studies that show engaging in art and watching theatre decreases cortisol levels,” said Juliet McMullin, a UCI School of Medicine Professor in Family Medicine and director of the Medical Humanities and Arts Program, referring to the beneficial hormone that helps suppress the immune system during stress and plays a role in mood regulation and cognitive function. “Studies show that going to the theatre and laughing at a play that would have you laughing a lot is like a mild cardio workout. You’re getting all kinds of exercise.

“There’s that place, but there’s also the place where the engagement and the participation that happens when someone is watching theatre. I’m thinking about the narrative and how you follow the story. I’m thinking about memory and also the problem-solving skills. … When you get to have that conversation with someone afterward, you’re making meaning together of the experience.”

Nguyen and a colleague, Dr. Johanna Shapiro co-wrote a paper published in the May 2023 "Annals of Family Medicine" titled “Arts and Poetry in the Clinic: A Novel Approach to Enhancing Patient Care and Job Satisfaction.”

In the paper, Nguyen and Shapiro wrote, “When we present patients with a blank sheet of paper and ask them to draw themselves and how they see their health, amazing stories leap from the page. Whenever possible, we discuss these with the patient as soon as they are completed. Many of the drawings help us see the patients as they want to be seen and how they want their medical condition to fit into their overall lives. Regardless of race, gender, language, and socioeconomic status, patients who value holistic care find these activities valuable. …

“Patients and clinicians benefit from exposure to a poem, drawing, or other art forms. Anecdotal feedback suggests that inclusion of arts-based activities in the clinic makes patients feel welcomed and at home, while clinicians and staff experience greater job satisfaction. Sharing a poem or looking at a patient’s self-portrait stimulates compassion, insight, and understanding with patients previously seen only as challenging.”

Here are other wellness benefits of theatre:

1. Fighting loneliness. Attending live theatre can help reduce feelings of isolation. Experiencing art with others can foster a sense of belonging.
2. Promoting healing. Studies have shown that for people suffering from mental illness, social problems of other trauma, watching thought-provoking, live theatre decreases stress, anxiety and other byproducts of trauma.
3. Developing social skills. Numerous studies have shown that viewing live theatre promotes increased empathy, self-esteem and better communication skills.
4. Building cognitive skills. One 2004 study in the Journal of Aging Health found that in adults aged 60-86, four weeks of theatre classes produced greater gains in cognitive and psychological well-being than those who didn’t take the classes. That included improved listening recall, problem solving and self-esteem.

None of this was news to the clinicians at the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine. With support from the nonprofit Mass Cultural Council, they published a 119-page study titled, “Arts on Prescription.” It’s a comprehensive, how-to guide on prescribing the arts as a key tool to improving wellness, combating loneliness and improving overall quality of life.

“Incorporating such practices in evidence-based ways at community and institutional levels makes practical sense in a patient-centered approach that embraces the whole person and the communities we live in. As such, arts on prescription can play a positive role,” wrote Christopher Bailey, the Arts and Health Lead for the World Health Organization, in the study’s forward. “In fact, I would go further. Creative expression is not merely a mechanism to achieve better health. It is intrinsically part of our human nature, as fundamental as breathing and walking and speaking, and as such, it is a fundamental part of health.”

So why not write yourself a prescription for good health in the form of a theatre subscription? With a subscription, you lock in all of your performances for the coming season at a discount. It’s like setting up a number of wellness days for yourself. And SCR has a variety of subscription options available, including traditional subscriptions—where you sit in the same seats for every performance—Create Your Own subscriptions, where you curate your own lineup of plays, and SCR Flex, where you purchase Flex credits now and redeem them for tickets later. In the coming months, we will be launching an SCR Family Membership, so you can share the benefits of theatre with the young people in your life.

Or maybe you want to develop your own creative expression skills with an SCR Theatre Conservatory class. Aside from building those cognitive skills, self-esteem and listening skills, a Conservatory class introduces you and/or your children to fellow theatre lovers, new friendships, opportunities to socialize and valuable shared experiences.

And for a quick jolt of joy, be sure to catch the Summer Players—advanced students in the SCR Youth Conservatory—this August in SpongeBob Square Pants. The Musical. It’s a high-energy example of creative expression.

“The socialization aspect has always been an important part of the work we do, but especially post-pandemic,” said Conservatory and Education Programs Director Hisa Takakuwa. “To give kids a place to intersect with people their own age, to learn how to share space, to learn how to share ideas and how to succeed and fail together in front of each other as a group. To have a place to share what they feel and what they think is really important.”