In Neufchatel, Switzerland, you can get a doctor’s prescription to go to a museum! The prescription could also be for a garden or an art gallery. The whole idea that art can help improve mental health stems from a 2019 World Health Organization study which explored just that, the connection between art and health. They explored how engaging in cultural events could promote mental health and also with coping with illness.
It seems redundant to me since I have used museums as a form of well being for decades. How many times have I sought refuge at places like The Getty Villa in Malibu when things were hard? And that’s exactly what the study found, that going to a place like a museum can help people lay down their problems for a while, find some peace and tranquility as respite from whatever they needed respite from.
What’s going on in Neufchatel is still in pilot program phase but it has proven so successful they are thinking to extending it to include theater and other cultural events. It’s good to know about the study, about the Swiss program, about its success, but for anyone needing a bit of respite from daily duties, no need for a prescription, just go to whatever museum, gallery, garden or concert that feels right to you. And as you do remember too that you become a reason and an example of why the arts are so vital to a society.
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