Healing Arts in the Age of Anxiety

Healing Arts in the Age of Anxiety" will be a timely discussion on the potential of the arts to support evidence-based arts interventions that can promote, protect, and restore our mental health. Despite a growing body of evidence showing that arts engagement improves emotional regulation, lowers stress hormones like cortisol, enhances cognitive flexibility, and builds social connection, the arts remain under-utilised in health systems worldwide. In an age of heightened anxiety, attention fatigue, and deepening isolation, the arts offer accessible, community-based, and evidence-informed pathways to mental wellbeing.

Yet global health strategies have often bypassed this powerful resource, leaving behind a gap that cannot be filled by medicine or technology alone. The economic implications of this omission are stark: mental health conditions are projected to cost the global economy $6 trillion annually by 2030, with depression already the leading cause of workplace absenteeism in many high-income countries. Investing in the arts is not just a cultural imperative—it is a scalable, cost-effective health intervention and a productivity strategy. Initiatives like the Jameel Arts & Health Lab—a global collaboration advancing research and policy at the intersection of arts and health—are helping to close this gap by building the evidence base and driving systemic change.