A Look Back and a Path Forward: Poetry's Healing Power during the Pandemic
August 26th, 2020
Boston, MA, United States
David Haosen Xiang, Alisha Moon Yi
Loneliness is a growing health problem that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and brings with it significant health problems. This review encompasses poetry's healing power on loneliness, and its role in helping patients, healthcare practitioners, and other professionals. Even in solitude, poetry works so well because of it's profound impact on mental health and well-being.
Journal of Medical Humanities
DOI: 10.1007/s10912-020-09657-z
Posted byMahmoud Said
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Abstract/Description
This discussion seeks to highlight the ability of poetry to combat loneliness, a growing public health problem with significant negative health outcomes that potentially impact millions of Americans. We argue that poetry can play a very relevant role and have an impact in medicine. Through a brief literature review of previous studies on poetry in medicine, we demonstrate that poetry can not only combat loneliness but can also play important roles in helping patients, physicians, and other healthcare professionals/providers. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe now is the perfect opportunity to utilize poetry because the benefits can be experienced even in solitude, which is why this is such a timely and pertinent issue today.
