Art Therapy and Cancer

It can be traumatic when someone is receiving the diagnosis of cancer. Also, it may evoke strong emotions of anger and anxiety. When the emotional burden of being seriously ill stretches beyond patients’ ability to cope, it may result in mental disorders. These mental disorders (depression, anxiety, etc.) affect the quality of life. Several supportive care interventions are effective among cancer patients, and one example of such a supportive intervention is art therapy.

Art therapy is a new supportive care intervention in oncology and there are limitations in previous literature studies in this field. Art therapy is delivered by an artist or professional art therapist and includes singing, drawing, painting, coloring, sculpting, writing, or poetizing.

If you are more interested, you should read this literature review that conducted a systematic search about art therapy and cancer:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7981299/pdf/520_2020_Article_5869.pdf