Making art lowered a stress hormone in most people in one small study, whatever their skill. What creativity can and can't do for mental health.
The watercolours you bought during lockdown are still in a drawer, mostly unopened. Somewhere along the way, making things started to feel like something for people with talent.
Creativity can help mental health, and the benefits don't seem to depend on being good at it. The evidence is real but smaller and messier than most articles claim. It points to stress relief, purpose and contact with other people more than to cures.
What the Research on Creativity and Mental Health Shows
One of the biggest overviews is a 2019 World Health Organization scoping review. It drew on results from over 3,000 studies. Those results pointed to a major role for the arts in preventing ill health, promoting health, and managing and treating illness across the lifespan.
A scoping review maps what research exists. It doesn't test whether painting on a Tuesday will lift your mood. Treat it as a sign the area is worth taking seriously, not as proof for any single activity.
Why Talent Doesn't Matter Much
The study quoted most often is a small one from Drexel University. In it, 39 adults aged 18 to 59 spent 45 minutes making art with markers, clay or collage materials and no instructions. Cortisol, a stress hormone, fell in 75 percent of them.
Past art experience made no difference to the result, which is the useful part for anyone who thinks she isn't creative. The caveats matter too. Cortisol rose in about a quarter of people, and the study was small and measured single sessions.
Putting a Feeling Somewhere Outside Your Head
Some days you feel terrible and can't say why. Plenty of people find that scribbling it out, in color or a few rough lines, gives the feeling a bit of distance. That's a common experience rather than a proven mechanism, and the research on it is thin.
It's still cheap and low-risk to try. If writing suits you better than drawing, journaling to process emotions covers the written version. If the feeling is heavy or keeps coming back, it deserves a person to talk to, not just a page.
Creative Activities for Mental Health That Don't Need Skill
The UK's NHS includes learning in its five steps to mental wellbeing, with suggestions like learning to paint or cooking something new. It says learning new skills can raise self-esteem, build a sense of purpose and help you connect with others.
That last one is worth noticing. A class or a choir adds other people to the activity, and loneliness carries its own costs, covered in why loneliness is a health problem.
Some low-pressure ways in:
- Pick something you can finish in one sitting, like a page of doodles, a short poem or a playlist for a mood.
- Use cheap materials so mistakes cost nothing. A pack of markers and printer paper is enough.
- Try writing three pages of whatever is in your head first thing, a practice known as morning pages. Morning pages vs evening journaling compares the two approaches.
- Choose something repetitive if your mind is busy. Knitting, coloring or kneading bread keeps your hands occupied, and some people find that quieter than sitting still.
If time for yourself feels hard to justify, why rest isn't laziness is a useful companion read. Creative time counts as rest.
Where Creativity Stops Being Enough
Making things can lift a flat afternoon, but it isn't a treatment for depression or anxiety on its own. If you think you may have depression, the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) says to talk to a health care provider, such as a primary care doctor. NIMH notes that a diagnosis needs symptoms most of the day, nearly every day, for at least two weeks. Art therapy with a trained therapist is a different thing from a hobby, and a doctor can tell you what's available near you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What If I'm Bad at Creative Activities?
In the Drexel study, past art experience made no difference to whether cortisol fell. The point is the making, not the result. Choose something low-stakes so you aren't judging it while you do it.
How Much Time Do I Need to Spend Being Creative?
There's no tested dose. The best-known small study used single 45-minute sessions, and nobody has shown that a daily minimum works better than whatever fits your week. Start with something short you'll actually repeat.
Can Creativity Help With Anxiety?
It may help you feel calmer in the moment, and the WHO review links the arts with better health more broadly. That isn't the same as treating an anxiety disorder. If anxiety is getting in the way of daily life, talk to a doctor about talk therapies.
This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before making changes to your health routine.
