Meditation Painting and Pain Management: A Self Study

Abstract

This article chronicles an art therapist’s experience of having osteoarthritis in both right and left trapeziometacarpal joints and subsequent surgery which provided the opportunity to use art making to manage pain during the recovery period. Meditative painting was used whenever pain was experienced post-surgery, and two series of twelve seven-inch paintings were created. Simple criteria were set and followed for at least three weeks post-surgery, and the questions asked were: Will meditative painting relieve post-surgery pain? Can meditative painting be used to reduce or eliminate the need for pain medication? Are there patterns in the artwork that can be seen in the healing process? It was found that meditative painting minimized pain to the extent that pain medication was unnecessary. Patterns were seen in both series that may illustrate aspects of the healing process.