Art as a Coping Strategy During the Pandemic

Abstract:

Introduction:

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a direct impact on medical student training, through the sudden change from face-to-face to remote learning and the stress and anxiety caused. Students need coping strategies for the sake of their mental health and to deal with situations of extreme anxiety. Experience Report: during the pandemic the ELAM (Study of Literature and Art in Medicine) group has sought to help students in lockdown deal with their mental struggles by promoting discussions on literature through texts it has produced, debates on social media and, primarily, through art activities such as watercolor painting and visual arts. Twenty-four watercolor paintings, videos, collages, chronicles and poems were produced. The main themes addressed were: love (N=2), ageing (N=2), sin and religion (N=4), life cycle (N=6), cancer, chaos, wisdom, mortality (N=3), time, looking and seeing (N=2) and regionalism (N=2).

Discussion:

Essential measures to tackle Covid-19 include social isolation, physical distancing and restrictions on people’s movements to prevent the rapid spread of the virus. When youngsters lack the mechanisms to cope with the resulting stressful situation, a series of mental disorders can be triggered, such as depression, anxiety and mood swings. Reflecting a broader trend in medical training, medical schools are increasingly investing in curricular content involving arts, and at this particular moment in time this represents an important coping strategy for students trying to deal with the pandemic. Conclusion: Getting through this difficult period of the Covid-19 pandemic has demanded a coping strategy to help students experience and vent their fears, where art has been the best form of expression, and the ELAM group has achieved such a strategy.

Keywords:
Art; Literature; Mental Illness; Pandemic