Drawing in Health and Wellbeing
Marks, Signs and Traces
Published on 15. May 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
248 pages
978-1-350-35985-7 (ISBN)
Description
Drawing has an established history within medicine for learning, recording, investigating and discovery. Bringing together diverse drawing approaches in the form of research and practical projects, this book demonstrates how drawing has extended beyond the realm of medicine with relevance and value for a wide spectrum of health and wellbeing settings.
Drawing has significant benefits for health, yet it is only recently that drawing for health and wellbeing has become a focus for formal research investigation and development. Chapters critically examine how drawing helps us convey and understand complex illness experiences, supporting a deeper, more holistic form of communication between patient and professional. The authors also explore drawing as a popular mindful and meditative activity. Underlying all the chapters is the principle that manual drawing, such as sketching, diagrams, cartoons and many other forms of mark-making, has important qualities in enabling people to learn, investigate, explain, and express as well as alleviate suffering.
With renewed global interest in improving our health, this timely volume brings together prominent research in the field and highlights an array of drawing approaches to promote wellbeing.
Drawing has significant benefits for health, yet it is only recently that drawing for health and wellbeing has become a focus for formal research investigation and development. Chapters critically examine how drawing helps us convey and understand complex illness experiences, supporting a deeper, more holistic form of communication between patient and professional. The authors also explore drawing as a popular mindful and meditative activity. Underlying all the chapters is the principle that manual drawing, such as sketching, diagrams, cartoons and many other forms of mark-making, has important qualities in enabling people to learn, investigate, explain, and express as well as alleviate suffering.
With renewed global interest in improving our health, this timely volume brings together prominent research in the field and highlights an array of drawing approaches to promote wellbeing.
Reviews / Votes
A compelling collection that collages practical experiences and scholarship to give a picture of the transformational possibilities of drawing practices. * Giskin Day, Principal Teaching Fellow, Imperial College London, UK * This collection opens drawing out into the world as a strategy for engagement and social repair while also taking drawing practices in to the self as modes of meditative self-care. It will be a source of inspiration both for health care workers, and carers of all kinds, and for researchers interested in learning more about ethnographic or autoethnographic practices * Susan Squier, Brill Professor Emeritus of English and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Penn State University, USA *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
79 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
536 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-35985-7 (9781350359857)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Curie Scott is an independent education consultant specializing in arts and health, based in the UK. After working as a medical doctor, she transitioned into Higher Education. Previously, she worked at Arts University Bournemouth, UK and Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. She is an award-winning educator for creative learning practices and holds a PhD in thinking through drawing. She is also the author of Drawing: Arts for Health (2021).
Philippa Lyon leads drawing, health and wellbeing research at the University of Brighton, UK, where she teaches on the MA Craft and MA Textiles and supervises PhD students. She has publications on the history of art education, design education approaches, and on applications of drawing within educational, health and wellbeing contexts. She has published work in The Sage Handbook of Visual Research Methods (2019) and journals such as the International Journal of Art and Design Education and Visual Methodologies. She also completed her PhD on British Second World War poetry in 2005.
Philippa Lyon leads drawing, health and wellbeing research at the University of Brighton, UK, where she teaches on the MA Craft and MA Textiles and supervises PhD students. She has publications on the history of art education, design education approaches, and on applications of drawing within educational, health and wellbeing contexts. She has published work in The Sage Handbook of Visual Research Methods (2019) and journals such as the International Journal of Art and Design Education and Visual Methodologies. She also completed her PhD on British Second World War poetry in 2005.
Content
List of Figures
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
1. Introduction, Philippa Lyon
2. Practical Ethics Guidance on Using Drawing for Sensitive Topics, Curie
Scott
3. To be Met as a Person Through Drawing: Relational Drawing and Mental Health, Joanna Stevens, Jane Fox and Philippa Lyon
4. Collaborative Drawing as a Way to Help with Issues that Impact the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Autistic Children and Young People who Experience Demand Avoidance, Caehryn Tinker
5. Fabrika: Drawing Across Cultures, Edina Husanovic
6. Drawing Together: Graphic Medicine and COVID Lockdowns, MK Czerwiec, Susan Squier, Ebru Ustundag, Shelley Wall and Dana Walrath
7. Touch and Drawing to Enhance Observation and Spatial Awareness in Medical Education and Practice: the Haptico-Visual Observation and Drawing Method, Leonard Shapiro
8. Using Participant-Generated Drawings to Aid Patient and Health Professional Insights about Living with Asthma, Melissa Mei Yin Cheung, Bandana Saini and Lorraine Smith
9. Marking Space: A Case Study Examining Drawing Activities Used to Map the World of Mary, Jenny Wright
10. Drawing Life: Drawing by People Living with Dementia, Judy Parkinson
11. Stitch-Drawing as Autoethnographic Practice for Health and Wellbeing: A Personal Case Study, Vanessa Marr
12. Mind Like Water: Drawing the Still Point, Duncan Bullen
Conclusion, Philippa Lyon
Index
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
1. Introduction, Philippa Lyon
2. Practical Ethics Guidance on Using Drawing for Sensitive Topics, Curie
Scott
3. To be Met as a Person Through Drawing: Relational Drawing and Mental Health, Joanna Stevens, Jane Fox and Philippa Lyon
4. Collaborative Drawing as a Way to Help with Issues that Impact the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Autistic Children and Young People who Experience Demand Avoidance, Caehryn Tinker
5. Fabrika: Drawing Across Cultures, Edina Husanovic
6. Drawing Together: Graphic Medicine and COVID Lockdowns, MK Czerwiec, Susan Squier, Ebru Ustundag, Shelley Wall and Dana Walrath
7. Touch and Drawing to Enhance Observation and Spatial Awareness in Medical Education and Practice: the Haptico-Visual Observation and Drawing Method, Leonard Shapiro
8. Using Participant-Generated Drawings to Aid Patient and Health Professional Insights about Living with Asthma, Melissa Mei Yin Cheung, Bandana Saini and Lorraine Smith
9. Marking Space: A Case Study Examining Drawing Activities Used to Map the World of Mary, Jenny Wright
10. Drawing Life: Drawing by People Living with Dementia, Judy Parkinson
11. Stitch-Drawing as Autoethnographic Practice for Health and Wellbeing: A Personal Case Study, Vanessa Marr
12. Mind Like Water: Drawing the Still Point, Duncan Bullen
Conclusion, Philippa Lyon
Index