Can Making Art Calm the Mind? What Science Says About Stress, Mood, and Creative Attention
RAMA Scientific Literature Series, October 2026
When the mind feels crowded, we often assume that creativity requires more energy than we have. Yet the opposite may sometimes be true: a simple act of making can offer the mind somewhere gentler to place its attention.
Two studies help us understand this possibility from different angles. One measured a biological marker of stress before and after making art. The other examined whether drawing could change a sad mood, and whether the intention behind the drawing mattered.
Together, they suggest that creative activity may support immediate emotional regulation. This may happen not because the final image is beautiful, but because the process can absorb attention, interrupt rumination, and create a temporary space between us and distress.
Study 1: What happened to cortisol after 45 minutes of making art?
In a 2016 study published in Art Therapy, Girija Kaimal, Kendra Ray, and Juan Muniz invited 39 healthy adults between ages 18 and 59 to spend 45 minutes making art. Participants could use collage materials, modeling clay, or markers. An art therapist was present, but did not direct or interpret their work.
The researchers collected saliva immediately before and after the session to measure cortisol, a hormone involved in the body’s stress response. Average cortisol fell from 17.85 to 14.77 ng/mL after the session, a statistically significant difference. Approximately 75% of participants showed lower cortisol; the remaining participants showed little change or an increase.
Just as importantly, prior artistic experience did not significantly change the result. Participants did not have to identify as artists to take part or appear to benefit.
In their written reflections, many described the experience as relaxing, enjoyable, freeing, or absorbing. Some wrote about moving from initial uncertainty into a sense of flow.
What this study does and does not tell us
The result is promising, but it should not be translated into “art lowers everyone’s stress.” This was a small, quasi-experimental study with no control group that completed a different activity. Cortisol also varies naturally with time of day and other factors. Because the study measured participants only immediately before and after one session, it cannot establish a lasting mental health benefit.
What it does show is that a brief, open ended art session was followed by lower average cortisol in this particular sample. It offers a useful reason for larger, controlled studies.
Study 2: When we feel sad, is it better to express the feeling or redirect attention?
Psychologists Jennifer Drake and Ellen Winner explored two possible uses of drawing: venting, by drawing about the source of sadness, and distraction, by drawing something unrelated to it.
Their 2012 paper reported two experiments with university students. In the first, 80 participants watched a sad film clip and were randomly assigned to draw either something about the film or a neutral subject, a house, for 10 minutes. In the second experiment, participants recalled a personally sad event and were assigned to vent through drawing, draw a house as a distraction, or simply sit quietly.
Across both experiments, drawing as distraction produced stronger immediate mood repair than drawing to vent. In the second experiment, the distraction group showed both reduced negative affect and increased positive affect, outperforming the venting and quiet sitting conditions.
The authors proposed that drawing a separate subject may occupy attention and reduce continued processing of the upsetting material. In plain language, the creative task may give the mind a temporary place to rest instead of repeatedly circling the same thought.
The necessary caution
These experiments examined immediate changes in mood reported by young university students after experimentally induced sadness. They did not study people with diagnosed depression, anxiety, trauma, or other mental health conditions, and they did not test lasting effects.
The findings also do not mean emotional expression is harmful or that difficult feelings should always be avoided. Distraction can be a useful temporary regulation tool; deeper processing may be valuable at another time, often with appropriate support. The study answers a narrower question: immediately after sadness, a neutral drawing task improved mood more than visually revisiting the sadness.
What the two studies suggest together
The studies measured different outcomes. One measured salivary cortisol, while the other measured situation-based affect on mood reported by participants. Yet they point toward a shared idea: “Creative attention may help shift our immediate mental and physiological state.”
This is not the same as saying that art cures stress, anxiety, or depression. It is more grounded, and perhaps more useful: a brief creative practice may become one accessible tool in a wider mental wellness routine.
The value is not dependent on artistic talent. In these studies, the relevant act was making, attending, choosing, and becoming involved in a process.
Try this: The 10 Minute Imagined Sanctuary
The purpose of this exercise is to gently redirect your attention away from repetitive or stressful thoughts and toward a creative activity that asks you to notice lines, colors, textures, and details. You are not trying to suppress your emotions or create a perfect picture. You are simply giving your mind a restorative pause.
Before you begin, describe your current mood in one word (Example: angry, anxious, fearful, lonely, sad and serious).
Then rate its intensity from 1 to 10:
1 to 3: The feeling is mild and remains in the background.
4 to 6: The feeling is clearly noticeable and affecting your attention.
7 to 8: The feeling is strong and difficult to ignore.
9 to 10: The feeling feels overwhelming or extremely difficult to manage.
Set a timer for 10 minutes.
Imagine a peaceful room, garden, courtyard, or landscape that does not yet exist. Draw it from memory or imagination. Add at least five details: a source of light, a texture, a place to sit, one natural element, and an object that has no practical purpose but brings you delight.
Whenever your attention returns to the stressful thought, gently guide it back to the next line, shape, color, or detail. There is nothing to solve and nothing to perfect. Your only task is to stay engaged with the creative process.
When the timer ends, look at your image while taking three slow breaths. Name your mood again and rate its intensity from 1 to 10 using the same scale.
Complete this sentence:
“For these ten minutes, my mind noticed…”
The purpose of rating your mood before and after is not to judge whether the exercise worked. It is to strengthen awareness of how your inner state may shift when your attention is absorbed in creativity. Your rating might decrease, remain the same, or even increase. Every response is valid and gives you information about what you need in that moment.
This practice is a temporary pause from mental repetition. It does not ask you to deny difficult emotions. Instead, it helps you experience that your attention can move, your inner state can change, and a stressful thought does not have to occupy your entire mental space.
A RAMA reflection
Creative practice can be a meeting place between attention and inner experience. Sometimes it allows expression. At other times, it gives the mind a restorative distance from what it has been carrying.
The invitation is not to make something impressive. It is to notice what happens when your attention moves from mental repetition into color, form, space, and choice.
Research discussed
Kaimal, G., Ray, K., & Muniz, J. (2016). Reduction of cortisol levels and participants’ responses following art making. Art Therapy, 33(2), 74 to 80. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2016.1166832
Drake, J. E., & Winner, E. (2012). Confronting sadness through art making: Distraction is more beneficial than venting. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 6(3), 255 to 261. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026909
Health note: This article is for education and general well-being. Creative exercises are not substitutes for professional mental health care, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are experiencing severe or persistent distress, contact a qualified mental health professional. In the United States, call or text 988 for immediate crisis support.
