Pain through the perspective of art and creativity: insights from the Unmasking Pain project

Frontiers in Pain Research

Pain Research

Balbir Singh¹  Ghazala Tabasam²  Mark I. Johnson²  Kate Thompson²  James Woodall³  Rosemary Cruickshank⁴  Paul Chazot⁵  Charlotte Keyse⁵  Frances Cole⁶  Adam J. Strickson⁷  Dawn Fuller⁸  Emma Tregidden⁸ 

[1] Balbir Singh Dance Company, Leeds, United Kingdom;Centre for Pain Research, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom;Centre for Pain Research, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom;Centre for Health Promotion Research, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom;INPUT Pain Management, Guy's and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom;Pain Challenge Academy, Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom;Pain Challenge Academy, Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom;Pain Academy, Live Well with Pain Ltd, Durham, United Kingdom;School of Performance and Cultural Industries, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom;Space2 Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom;

关键词: pain;    art;    creativity;    pain concepts;    pain management;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpain.2023.1179116

 received in 2023-03-03, accepted in 2023-05-09,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

People struggle to tell their story of living with pain and when they do it is articulated in a way that may not be understood, heard or taken seriously. Unmasking Pain is an artist-led project that explored creative approaches to tell stories of life with pain. The project was led by a dance theatre company that specialises in storytelling and emotional experiences for players and audiences. The project involved artists and people living with ongoing pain co-creating activities and environments to curiously explore “oneself”, through imagination and creative expression. This article discusses insights and perspectives emerging from the project. The project revealed the power of art to make-sense of oneself with or without pain, and how art facilitates expression of complex inner experience and personal stories. People described Unmasking Pain as “explorative joy despite pain”, and “a new set of rules” that contrasts with those experienced during clinical encounters. We discuss how art has the potential to improve clinical encounters and promote health and well-being, and whether artist-led activities are an intervention, therapy, or something else. Pain rehabilitation specialists from the project described Unmasking Pain as “freeing-up thinking”, allowing conceptual thought beyond the biopsychosocial model of pain. We conclude that art has the potential to shift people living with pain from “I can't do, I am not willing to do it” to “Perhaps I can, I'll give it a go, I enjoyed”.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© 2023 Johnson, Chazot, Cole, Cruickshank, Fuller, Keyse, Singh, Strickson, Tabasam, Tregidden, Thompson and Woodall.