Health Benefits of Poetry from Medline Journals

Hankir, A. and R. Zaman (2015). "'Craziness' and creativity: Psychopathology and Poetry." Psychiatr Danub 27 Suppl 1: S151-154.: "Not all poets have experienced psychopathology. Conversely, not all those who have experienced psychopathology become poets. The notion, nonetheless, of there being an association between 'craziness' and creativity, contentious though it may be, remains a seductive one.

Poetry is both beneficial for the person who is composing or reciting it as well as the person who may be reading or listening to it.

Poetry Therapy, which falls under the remit of Art Therapy, is increasingly being recognized as an effective form of adjunctive therapy for the treatment of mental health problems."

Lapum, J., T. Yau, et al. (2015). "Un-earthing emotions through art: facilitating reflective practice with poetry and photographic imagery." J Med Humanit 36(2): 171-176.: "In this article, we comment upon and provide an arts-informed example of an emotive-focused reflection of a health care practitioner. Specifically, we use poetry and photographic imagery as tools to un-earth practitioners' emotions within agonizing and traumatic clinical encounters.

In order to recognize one's own humanness and authentically engage in the art of medicine, we immerse ourselves in the first author's poetic and photographic self-reflection.

The poem and image are intended to inspire interpretation and meaning based on the reader's own professional and/or personal context. The last line of the poem is "I take off the gloves. My hands are marked."

Jack, K. (2015). "The use of poetry writing in nurse education: An evaluation." Nurse Educ Today 35(9): e7-e10.:

"Arts based approaches have been used in health education in various ways e.g. to develop emotional awareness, reduce anxiety and stress and assess communication skills.

This evaluation aimed to explore the use of poetry writing as a way for undergraduate nursing students to consider their feelings about important practice issues. 42 first year undergraduate nursing students were asked to write a poem which focused on an important nursing issue e.g. compassion, communication or the therapeutic role of the nurse. They were then asked to read the poem aloud to a small group and discuss its meaning.: 60% (n=24) of students reported that the exercise had increased understanding of their chosen subject, 75% (n=30) stated that they had learned something about themselves and 65% (n=26) of students stated that they had enjoyed the poetry writing exercise.

Qualitative comments suggested that the use of poetry enabled greater understanding of others' experiences, promoted open and honest reflection on feelings and supported the development of confidence.

There is a need for teaching methods which engage and develop students' imagination, if they are going to be adequately prepared for the demands of nursing practice.

Poetry writing and discussion supports the development of confidence, therapeutic communication skills and the ability to think creatively."