Coping with chronic pain through art

I had to stop doing my art for a time. It was due to several factors. Partially, hand pain. Partially ennui and a mental funk. Partially a deep, heavy fatigue. However, art, along with writing, are some of the Things I use to cope with pain and suffering.

And I began to think about chronic pain and art. What it has given me as a gift of creating while in pain. I remain grateful in many ways I chose this as an additional hobby, along with my writing.

“Art therapy does not replace the need for pain medication, but it can be used as an effective complement and reduce perceptions of pain experiences,” says Kelsey A. Skerpan… “It can help people better manage the symptoms of stress and anxiety that accompany pain, which assists with the recovery process and improves quality of life.” Harvard

Creating through pain

This can be a tricky thing for me. But I have tried every couple days to create something through art or writing. Some not quite as successful as others. It is more the process than the result in many cases. The act itself. Although, the result is awesome as well. I love that last one there in the gallery. I think it works well.

Distraction

It’s a great distraction, as we all know. The idea is based on the gate theory of pain. It suggests that non-painful stimulus and things like focusing on color, format, the angles and the process of art is going to give the brain a lot of information to process, thus reducing the pain signal. All the information competes with the pain signal.

Emotional release

One of the main reasons to create of any sort is the cathartic process of creating. Processing our emotions in healthy and different ways. Because the emotions that come with pain are intense and complicated and can be heavy and difficult to deal with.

Depression & Anxiety

With chronic pain can come a hefty dose of depression and/or anxiety. Often depression in my case. And art therapy can help with depression and pain. A 2018 study with 200 participants looked at chronic pain and mood in regards to art therapy and found “Analysis of results demonstrated significant improvements in pain, mood, and anxiety levels within all patients regardless of gender, age, or diagnosis.” Study

Control

Referenced in the Harvard article is how art therapy can give us back a sense of control and ownership in our lives. A sense of control that we often lose. I often feel like this sense of control is something we try to regain through various hobbies and routines. Art therapy would be one.

Flow state

I think we have all heard of the ‘flow state’ or brain waves associated with creating art, writing and performing music. It can be induced during meditation as well. Much like distraction this is what is helping us with perceived pain. And is what is used in art therapy to guide people into in order to get the desired positive emotional responses.

“Flow” is a term coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi [Mee-HAH-ee CHEEK-sehnt-mee-hah-yee], a positive developmental psychologist, when observing painters absorbed in a state of “full immersion and absorption in the act of creation” (Csikszentmihalyi)…These artists experienced flow, a state of immersion, a feeling of complete focus that becomes so intense it “leads to a sense of ecstasy, a sense of clarity: you know exactly what you want to do from one moment to the other; you get immediate feedback” (Oppland, 2016). The Flow State

Identity

Hobbies of any sort can help us with our perception of self. When we lose work and our self-identity suffers we can get this notion we are only a person that suffers pain or only a disabled person. And hobbies can alter that perception. We can become a person who produces art. An artist. A writer. A musician. Many things. And even if these are only and ever will be hobbies they can help define who we are.

https://brainlessblogger.ca/2024/07/01/numb-hand-and-art/