Commentary Article
For
decades, clinical importance has been broadly understood concerning
patient-oriented medicine, such as holistic medicine, psychosomatic medicine,
and integrative medicine (IM) worldwide [1]. Among them, art therapy has
recently attracted attention as non-pharmacological treatment [2]. Art therapy
is included in IM and also psychotherapy, where everyone can take most
advantage of various treatments [3]. Among them, the philosophy of fundamental
medicine would be required for all people [4]. Furthermore, all patients with
various impaired function and diseases will be wholly treated by mental
healthcare and medical care [5]. In this
article, several perspectives will be described, where the involvement of art
can bridge the status between conscious and unconscious regions in our mind.
From
psychological point of view, human mind has certain relationships between heart
and art for some decades. It has been situated at the crossroads of scientific
investigation and human creative expression of art. Such connection shows not
only historical aspects but also development of modern disciplines. They
include art therapy and neuroaesthetics, where some expressions would exist
from complex human creative feelings [6]. The famous psychiatrist Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939) also acknowledged the possibility of art for externalizing the
unconsciousness. They include internal dialogue and emotional regulation in the
artistic expression. In recent psychology, the intersection of psychology and
art may transcend historical progress, and include various neuroscientific
studies for brain responses to art and some therapeutic research.
As
a recent research region of psychology, neuroaesthetics can explore the neural
function which exists under human artistic creation and perception. The
experience in the light of neuroaesthetics may demonstrate the broad range of
emotional and cognitive processes, and activate certain brain areas, including
the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the superior temporal sulcus (STS).
These area can be respectively responsible for emotional reflection and also
perceptual analysis in the brain [7]. Simultaneously, art therapy can develop
human creative process for stimulating the neuroplasticity, developing
functional and structural changes for the brain, where cognitive resilience and
emotional well-being will be enhanced. From these processing, both significance
of scientific progress and subjective experience would contribute the dual
development together.
Mutual
correlation of psychology and art includes the interdisciplinary curiosity as
well as robust inquiry leading to multiple complementary approaches. For
combining psychological, neuroscientific and artistic aspects, related articles
on the research topics will develop unique perspectives of various interactions
[8]. They include the interactions among human experience, creativity and novel
methods of research. Such research topics will give significant meeting point
of the discussion and integrative approach of understanding of mind and several
expressions. When investigating psychological issues, the transformative
potential perspectives would be expected by the art-based knowledge translation
pathway. For the patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia or
Parkinson’s disease (PD), certain neuroscientific research with actual
experiences will bring various approach from multimedia and societal aspects.
Such method will produce emotionally accessible and engaging narratives by the
combination of clinical understanding and scientific data with artistic media.
The feedback from the audience may increase awareness and empathy.
Various
studies provide behavioral and psychophysiological data. This set of contextual
information can then be used to enhance understanding and deepen the emotional
experience of art for relevant audiences, including curators, educators, and
psychologists [9]. These processes accumulate insights into psychology and art,
which may shed light on the interplay between cognitive and emotional responses
in art perception and help optimize engagement with art. Through the experience
of being aesthetically moved by art, emotionally evocative art can play a role
in fostering empathy and emotional solidarity in social interactions. The
emotional expression felt from great artworks can help individuals navigate
social and emotional contexts. By eliciting vicarious emotions, art strengthens
emotional intelligence and promotes social ties. In other words, art has
universal appeal that transcends cultures and time, and also serves as an
important tool for emotional regulation and social learning.
As
non-pharmacological intervention, visual art therapy has been expected for
beneficial effect for combining adequate mental health and human services to
maintain cognitive functions [10]. It is likely to show promising clinical
benefit for supporting cognitive ability for healthy elderly, the patients with
mild cognitive impairment (MCI), moderate dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
(AD). Since previous pharmacological therapy for dementia revealed certain
limitations, visual art therapy has been expected to show effective treatment
method. It present alternative methods for sensory, cognitive and emotional
stimulation leading to expecting neuroplastic changes in the elderly brain with
impaired function.
In
the case of patients with PD, they have showed some decline in motor function,
cognitive impairment and influences of mental health. Since they have problems
of higher cost and reverse effects of previous treatments, patients and related
community expect more effective and beneficial alternative treatments. The
review was conducted for 3440 articles screened, and 16 papers were met the
criteria and studied [11]. They included several non-pharmacological
treatments, such as meditation, music therapy, art, yoga, theater, dance play
therapy and video games. As a result, various arts therapies showed clinical
efficacy for improving psychological, motor and cognitive rehabilitation
process of PD patients.
For the people with visuospatial cognitive disorders, the therapeutic applications of art and design can become a significant tool for providing visualization of various artistic data. By integrating aesthetic application with analytic data, the approach can strengthen the engagement and comprehension [12]. The method of artistic visualization makes from abstract intangible data to tangible imagination. It can create the compelling narrative world which bridge quantitative analysis with human-centered storytelling. Consequently, the combination of psychology and art may give a beneficial framework for enhancing human important experiences. When integrating psychological themes and artistic creativity, it yields the integration of emotion, cognition, social interaction and human relationships. Then, it will highlight various arts for multifaceted role as a therapeutic tool, medium of expression and adequate educational resource.
Figure 1: AI involvement for recent trend of art and psychology.
As recent focus in art and psychology, clinical application of artificial intelligence (AI) is detected across the world (Figure 1). AI can be involved in the creativity of artistic works [13]. It may develop the transformative potential for the novel creative expression by the usage of a variety of AI applications. At present, AI can serve as both tool and/or collaborator, which challenges traditional authorship and offers new perspectives for originality and creativity. Through this progress of human and AI, future themes include how AI emphasize human-like creativity, while how AI open the avenues for emotional and cognitive processes associated with artistic generation.
Conflict
of interest
The
authors declare no conflict of interest.
Funding
There
was no funding received for this paper.