Dr. Miggy's Healthy Blog for Busy Folks on Tight Budgets

Instead of posting something about clinical trials or chemo, I thought today I would write about a very positive trend in cancer therapy. I had the opportunity to meet a man from New Zealand this week who believes our approach to health care in the United States is cold and uncaring for the patient, and it got me thinking about how I see that as changing. One of my interests is integrative therapy, like acupuncture, nutrition, etc. Recently this type of therapy is gaining more acceptance in the medical community. The use of art to soothe and heal the cancer patient is yet another example of an integrative “therapy” that is gaining more acceptance.

For example, at Texas Children’s Hospital’s cancer center in Houston, they have employed a pianist and composer to help children write songs about not just their experiences with their treatment and illness, but about their lives in general. You can read about the program here. At M.D. Anderson Cancer Center one of the physicians has started a non-profit organization to bring art to the patients and physicians. Collage: Art for Cancer is seeking artists-in-residence to create art with patients at their bedsides. The website states “Making art in a supportive environment provides participants with a diversion from the daily routine of the hospital and an opportunity to express themselves creatively.” Other objectives for Collage include art workshops in hospitals, museum visits, and workshops for doctors and cancer care providers to promote the idea that art can be healing for the cancer patient.

What’s interesting about this trend is that the focus is being shifted from simply “curing” the patient of their cancer to treating the whole patient, both their physical and emotional needs. As I have written before, there is evidence that stress can promote tumor growth, and many health care providers agree that emotional support has an important role in recovery and survival. I see this in action regularly where I work, where hugs are encouraged and kindness is the norm, from both the patients and the employees. By integrating art and music into the therapeutic treatment of cancer patients, we are respecting the person as a whole and not just attacking the disease. Regardless of the impacts of art and music therapy on survival rates or disease regression, this is a question of the quality of the life one leads during treatment. I’m glad this question finally being addressed and taken seriously.