Creative Engagement and Mental Health

It is my belief that humanity’s unconscious drive to consume art and engage with creative activities is a coping mechanism to counter stress and serves to regulate emotions. At the start of this project, I spent a large portion of time researching how the arts affect the brain and what cognitive processes occur during creative engagement. I chose 20 participants to interview about their experiences with stress and how they typically regulate their emotions to see if the arts have played a role in those experiences. Whether they are aware of it or not, each participant seemed to rely on active and passive creative engagement for healing in their everyday lives. I believe that while active art-making is an integral part in stress reduction and self-regulation processes, passive arts engagement also promotes these same benefits. This research is meant to demonstrate the creative outlets expressed by the individual participants and to give voice to their thought processes and goals achieved by engaging in these creative activities.