Will the Arts Turn Frowns Upside Down?

In Britain, depression affects one in five people. Is it all the cloudy, rainy weather? The lackluster food? The aftermath of an empire?

Whatever's causing it, researchers have just discovered something that might help people, or at least men, escape its grip: art and culture. According to a new study involving 50,000 subjects, men who got involved in cultural or artistic activities had smaller chances of being afflicted, according to the Telegraph. Cultural pursuits showed a stronger correlation to a lighter mood than either wealth or a satisfying occupation.

The question that jumps to mind is whether the results of the study simply point to the fact that people who have a good frame of mind will be more likely to get involved in things like cultural activities in the first place.

“The association between health and cultural activities was not strong enough to say that culture actually makes people healthy," said Professor Jostein Holmen of the the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and one of the researchers. "But the findings ought to challenge politicians to think differently about health."

Maybe it will turn out to be a virtuous circle. Depressed? Join an orchestra, and let the music and social interaction turn you into the kind of person who would have joined an orchestra in the first place.

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