Children and Cancer: Healing Through the Arts

By: Michele Kadison

Catharsis is the word that comes to mind when we are exposed to Art of any kind, be it in the viewing or the participation.  The ancient Greeks went to the theatre to see their lives broadcast on the grand scale to better understand the metaphors of human trials and triumphs.  The Elizabethans did the same, with Shakespeare as the glorious representative of the human condition as it applies to all aspects of life.  We weep, we laugh, we mourn, we celebrate in the theatre, shedding emotions as we strive to understand the paradigm we live in, day in and day out.  Acting, singing, dancing, painting, sculpting…. expressing our emotions through the Arts is primal, as we witness in tribal custom throughout time and throughout the world.

We heal through expression.  When we look at the word "disease" we see how it is comprised of the two syllables, "dis" and "ease."  Holding our emotions, our fears, and our pain inside is the way we make ourselves sick.

More and more research is being done on what is known as the mind/body connection.  Finding healthy ways to cope with stress is becoming key in our ability to divert and heal illness.  Because our body responds to the way we feel, think, and act, it is essential to find constructive ways to release our anxieties through self-expression. 

Stress and Dis-ease
Our bodies contain a powerful system designed to assist us in times of stress.  The hypothalamic, pituitary, and adrenal glands conspire to produce and release steroid hormones to control anxiety.  These hormones, such as the powerful epinephrine, affect our immune cells, calming them down to the point where they are no longer fighting, and ultimately preventing them from repelling the invaders that compromise our health.  Thus the byproducts of these stress hormones can often contribute to a plethora of illnesses like hypertension, apoplexy, and rheumatoid arthritis. 

Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have reported that emotional stress not only contributes to the development of cancer, but it may also reduce the efficacy of many cancer treatments.  According to leading researcher and Assistant Professor of Cancer Biology, Dr. George Kulik, it is essential to find ways to manage the effects of stress in order to block the negative effects of epinephrine.  Many other U.S. medical scientists are linking epinephrine to prostate and breast cancer, due to its ability to prevent cancer cells from dying.  Dr. Esther Sternbert, Director of the Integrative Neural Immune Program at the National Institute of Mental Health corroborates with studies that show how stress creates an internal environment where bacteria and viruses can breed.

We are born with the ability to relieve the symptoms of stress by implementing our natural desire and capacity to express ourselves.  Often we find this inclination suppressed and repressed by society, school, or religion.  When we re-introduce outlets for self-expression, whereby we give ourselves permission to be our natural selves, we then move away from fear towards a more balanced and healthful way of life.

According to Moores Medical Center at the University of California, San Diego,  proponents of art therapy believe that "the uninhibited expression of feelings and emotions through art may help to release the fear, anxiety, and anger many cancer patients experience…  By relieving stress, the body's immune system and, therefore, resistance to disease may be heightened."

A Child's Natural Response

A child's natural response to life is one of joy and expression.  Through guided creative processes, a child can often work through a trauma that eludes words.  By expressing themselves through the Arts, children can metaphorically act out a situation that would be otherwise impossible to articulate, let alone discuss.  Through creative outlets, children can find their self-worth, inner value, and a deep satisfaction that helps them move beyond the fear and isolation that many diseases cause.  Through learning new skills, children also discover resources that they otherwise may never have recognized.  By rejuvenating the spirit, the Arts help children discover a passion for life, the ultimate remedy for all ills. 

The Arts and Relationships

Helping children engage in the Arts also assists them in finding their way towards more solid relationships.  Sharing an artistic passion with peers, teachers, family, and friends helps to forge a sense of belonging and contributing.  The founders of the Joy Foundation have found that engaging in the Arts helps people move past their fears and sense of isolation.  As highly stimulating outlets, they note that activities like painting and keeping a journal help people to connect to each other and themselves.  Children participating in the program are the happy evidence that engaging in the arts rejuvenates the spirit and reignites the soul, inspiring the body to heal. 

Martial Arts

Kids Kicking Cancer, where children are active participants in the Martial Arts, is another organization dedicated to making sure kids learn new skills while having fun and sharing.  Founded by Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg, a black belt in the Martial Arts who lost a daughter to cancer in 1983, the program is devoted to elevating the spirit of children as they conquer fear and stress while learning more about their physical capabilities.

Dance and Yoga

Dance and yoga provide an extremely holistic approach to children's health issues.  Because movement helps us get in touch with our bodies, it also helps to discharge feelings of frustration, sadness, and loss.  According to the American Dance Therapy Association, dance/movement therapy is defined as a
"psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process that furthers the emotional, cognitive, and physical integration of the individual."  With movement therapies, kids can find satisfaction in gaining mastery over their bodies as they achieve greater coordination, learn about spatial relationships, and how to manage themselves in a group.  When improvisational methods are used, kids can use their imaginations in order to express themselves as they move through space. 

Because movement helps to keep the muscular, skeletal, and internal structures active and strong, taking part in a program that offers any type of exercise can also help to counter the effects of drugs such as Prednisone and other steroids that may cause depression.  By raising the level of endorphins, the body's natural pain reliever, movement helps to create an internal sensation of joy.  It was with this in mind that yoga and dance teacher, Christine Grimaldi, created Cancer Dancers, where teens with cancer can get in shape and express themselves through the guidance of guest teachers and choreographers.

Making Music

There is no doubt that the healing effects of music are universal.  Creating music nourishes our imagination and encourages healing, while taking our minds off stress and pain.  Music as a healing art is never more effective than when children are encouraged to improvise with instruments, join in a chorus, listen to lullabies, or find their own ways to interpret songs and rhythms in all forms.

Purple Songs Can Fly, developed at the Texas Children's Cancer Center, invites young cancer patients to write and record their own songs in a professional studio setting. Originated by Anita Kruse, the program helps children rise above their illnesses by providing them with a "tangible symbol for the hope of healing."  Another successful program is MusicRx, part of the Children's Cancer Association that provides kids with an interactive cart filled with instruments for playing as well as providing them with writing, recording, and karaoke technologies.  According to the program's leaders, formerly withdrawn and depressed children engaging in these activities smile and laugh more, are more engaged with their peers and teachers, and generally have a more positive attitude towards their illness.

The Plastic Arts

Arts in Medicine at the University of Miami/Jackson Children's Hospital has incorporated a highly effective therapeutic and recreational program where local artists work with children, helping them discover new ways to create art projects.  Here the artists introduce kids to different techniques and media, with the walls of the Cancer Center acting as perfect proof of the program's success. 

There is no doubt that artistic and self-expression through making music, singing, dancing, producing plays, writing, telling stories, and engaging in any of the plastic arts enhances healing.  By providing children with skills that help them deal with painful procedures, programs that emphasize artistic expression allow children suffering from disease to look to a fulfilling today, a positive tomorrow, and the timeless sense that anything is possible.

Michele Kadison has been a dance teacher and choreographer for over 20 years, with her career spanning the globe.  As a seasoned writer, she has published numerous articles on a wide variety of subjects, including dance, fitness, health, beauty, and ecology.