Chronic nonmalignant pain is recognized as a complex, dynamic, phenomenological interplay between biological, psychological, and social factors that are individual to the person suffering from it. Therefore, its management and treatment ought to entail the individual's biopsychosocial aspects that are often addressed by collaborative, inter/multidisciplinary multimodal care, as there is no biologic treatment. In an effort to enhance inter/multidisciplinary multimodal care, a narrative review of arts therapy as a mind-body intervention and its efficacy in chronic pain populations has been conducted. Changes in emotional and physical symptoms, especially pain intensity, during arts therapy sessions have also been discussed in in the context of attention distraction strategy. Arts therapy (visual art, music, dance/movement therapy, etc.) have been investigated to summarize relevant findings and to highlight further potential benefits, limitations, and future directions in this area. We reviewed 16 studies of different design, and the majority reported beneficial effects of art therapy in patients' management of chronic pain and improvement in pain, mood, stress, and quality of life. However, the results are inconsistent and unclear. It was discovered that there is a limited amount of high-quality research available on the implications of arts therapy in chronic nonmalignant pain management. Due to the reported limitations, low effectiveness, and inconclusive findings of arts therapy in the studies conducted so far, further research with improved methodological standards is required.

Amsterdam Emotional Memory Lab University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands

Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Department of Anesthesiology Creighton University School of Medicine Omaha NE USA

Department of Anesthesiology Louisiana State University Shreveport Shreveport LA USA

Department of Anesthesiology University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix Phoenix AZ USA

Department of Art Education Faculty of Education Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Department of Clinical Psychology 3rd Medical Faculty University Hospital KV Prague Czech Republic

Department of Nursing 2nd Medical School and University Hospital Motol Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Paolo Procacci Foundation Via Tacito 7 00193 Rome Italy

Southcoast Physicians Group Pain Medicine Southcoast Health Wareham MA USA

Valley Anesthesiology and Pain Consultants Envision Physician Services Phoenix AZ USA

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