Museums as medicine: Swiss doctors prescribe art therapy

Swiss doctors are broadening treatment options for patients with mental health conditions and chronic illnesses by prescribing visits to public gardens, art galleries, and museums.

In a bid to support struggling residents and encourage physical activity, the city of Neuchatel in western Switzerland introduced the pilot initiative last month in collaboration with healthcare professionals.

"For people who sometimes have difficulties with their mental health, it allows them for a moment to forget their worries, their pain, their illnesses to go and spend a joyful moment of discovery," Patricia Lehmann, a Neuchatel doctor taking part in the programme, told Reuters.

"I'm convinced that when we take care of people's emotions, we allow them somehow to perhaps find a path to healing."

Five hundred prescriptions will be handed out for free visits to four sites, including three museums and the city's botanical garden.

One of them went to a 26-year-old woman suffering from burnout whom Reuters met at the Neuchatel Museum of Art and History, which has masterpieces by Claude Monet and Edgar Degas as well as a collection of automated dolls.

"I think it brings a little light into the darkness," she said, asking to remain anonymous.

Authorities say the idea came from a 2019 World Health Organisation study exploring the role of the arts in promoting health and dealing with illness.

During Covid-19 lockdowns, museum closures hit people's well-being, said Julie Courcier Delafontaine, head of the city's culture department.

"That was a real trigger and we were really convinced that culture was essential for the well-being of humanity," she said.

The initiative will be tested for a year and could be expanded to other activities such as theatre.

"We'd love this project to take off and have enough patients to prove its worth and that one day, why not, health insurance covers culture as a form of therapy," said Courcier Delafontaine.