DonnaBellas Angels Art for Improving Mental Health Wellness

The NY Times Health Blog had an article discussing mental health of patients and their caregivers as they cope with not only depression with cancer treatment but anxiety during cancer remission.  Below are excerpts from the article along with commentary about DonnaBellas Angels plans to address the mental health wellness.

DonnaBellas Angels motto is “Medicine Heals the Body, Art Heals the Soul” because of the emotional stress that can accompany the management a chronic or terminal illness. 

“Now a new analysis finds that within two years of a cancer diagnosis, the pervasiveness of depression in patients and their spouses tends to drop back to roughly the same levels as in the general population, only to be replaced by another mind-demon: anxiety, which can even intensify as time passes.”

The disease may be cured or a loved one passed away, but the emotional healing is ongoing.

“People who have not confronted a life-challenging illness may be perplexed by the residual anxiety in patients, long after they have successfully completed treatment.”

It is the hope that the art will help improve the emotional journey.  We hope that DonnaBellas Angels art will provide hope in living and it will be art to provide memory in passing. 

“Dr. Mitchell said that in his clinical practice, key predictors of anxiety in family members included whether a caregiver felt out of control and unable to participate in the patient’s care; witnessed an unexpected or unpredictable deterioration of a loved one…”

DonnaBellas Angels art is meant not only for patients, but for family and friends too.  We encourage the sharing of the art prints among individuals. 

“The analysis did not identify certain cancers as having more psychological impact than others. Rather, the burden of the disease on an individual patient, including symptoms and treatment complications, was more telling than the type of cancer, Dr. Mitchell said.”

Family and friends can all get the same art print to keep as a reminder of their loved one.  When the art print is viewed you can thinking about sending the person good intentions or prayers, it is up to the recipient to determine their meaning within the art piece.

“Even in an era of scarce resources, hospital-based psycho-oncology programs should probably not be exclusively reserved for patients,” said Dr. Ilana M. Braun, chief of the adult psychosocial oncology division at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston Such programs, she says, should “be made available in some capacity to those in remission and to loved ones impacted by cancer in their family.”

Below is a story shared by Katharine and Mark O. with DonnaBellas Angels on what the Spring Hearts Cancer Angel art print meant to them when coping with grief.

"When a close family member was diagnosed with a terminal illness, DonnaBellas Angels was gracious enough to provide her with an angel print.  The print meant so much to Mickey that she kept it close to her on her bedside dresser.  When she passed away, her best friend asked to have the print because it remained her of Mickey.  DonnaBellas Angels gives hope and life to those who are ill as well as gives hope and life in passing.  It helps loved ones of patients to know that they are not alone."

- Article quotes from NY Times: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/anxiety-lingers-long-after-cancer/

-See Spring Hearts Cancer Angel online at: http://donnabellasangels.org/art/cancer_cannot/angel-spring-hearts.html

Thank you for viewing DonnaBellas Angels art!  Donations are always welcome and appreciated.