I'm curious, if the movement of hands stimulated the brain and alleviates depression, then shouldn't someone who types a lot be less depressed, when in fact many professionals are depressed? I write creatively, so I find depression alleviated by getting it out that way. Perhaps that is also why artists are percieved as more depressed, because we are better at expressing it, not because we actually are more proned to it.

I think you are right about art alleviating depression. You see it used in patient in occupational and physical therapy who are depressed from their condition of disability. Thank you for the article.

Great find - too bad the study authors did not also see the relationship to the arts and creation.

As to the question about typing. The finger usage is different from that of creating art*. In typing there is not a relationship of the fingers with each other; they all act independently in sequence. This is generally thought to be a left-brained logic activity, even though both hands are participating. The action is more like micro-second timing of switching from one hemisphere to the other rather than whole-brain integration in which both hemispheres are cooperating at the same time. There is no crossing of the body's midline for simultaneous cross-lateral integration of both hemispheres.

Artistic creation involves the fingers and the rest of the hand in team - interdependnece or whole-brained integration. A concert, if you will, in which both hemispheres work together at the same time. Insight is linked with sequential understanding of how things work and go together, yet not so rigidly patterned that spontaneous change is inhibited, opening us to endlessly newer insights and creative discoveries.

In general neurophysiology teaches us that the right hand is connected to the left brain and the left hand is connected to the right brain. Therfore we tend to think that this is whole-brained when we are typing, yet it is truly sequential as noted above. Dr. Paul Dennison of Educational Kinesiology/Brain Gym has been teaching his discovery that the fingers of each hand are linked to the same-side hemisphere (right hand fingers link to the right hemisphere and visa versa for the left). This might imply that typing has even less potential to be thought of as an integrated brain activity.

And the thumbs? Dr. Dennison has discovered that the thumbs are cross-linked to the opposite hemispheres. Thus an activity that uses the integration of both thumbs and fingers such as art creation or hand-writing, as opposed to printing, is whole-brained functioning.

Why desire whole-brained functioning? Isn't it just fine if both hemispheres are working back and forth? How does this relate to depression?

Consider some of the symptoms of depression: lethargy, feeling overwhelmed by details, or the opposite of being spaced-out and missing details. Then we tend to function out of the survival or old brain/reptilian brain to keep us going (the triune brain model). One of the most common interventions for depression is to get people moving again - walks and activities, often art activities. Walking is a major brain integrative activity epecially if your arms ase swinging with the opposite hand moving forward with the opposite foot moving forward (eg., left arm and right foot). Generally being overwhelmed by details can be a sign that you are 'stuck' in your left or logic brain: too much to do, too many lists, what ifs, and oh I have to take care of this and that and that. Spaced-out, when you are missing the details, generally means you are 'stuck' in the right or gestalt hemisphere such that you are missing appointments, out of sync, and clumsy enough to trip over your own feet.

Cross-lateral movement (as described above) and other creative activities stimulate both hemispheres at the same time and involve both hands and a focused mind. Integrated movement and activities require us to function in the higher centers of the brain moving us out of survival mode into the relational centers and the frontal cortex which releases our abilities to move and think at the same time with ease, find new perceptions and clarity, making decisions and acting on them appropriately.

Sounds a lot like the benefits we find for ourselves when we create art doesn't it?

*When I use the word 'art' please understand that I am speaking of all art forms: music, dance, writing, visual arts and more.

I've been a potter for more than six years now. I've been diognosed with schizo-affective disorder for just as long. during times of sickness i am not able to focus enough to work effectivly with clay.
Which really gets me down. I feel the most productive when i am in the studio. When i am deep within the creative process, i am absolutly elated, so much that people think i'm on drugs. I have noticed during short breaks from school or from art making in general, that i become depressed as well as delusional, more so than normal...normal for me anyway. i lose my focus compeletly.

dealing with the stress of being a full time art student is donting at times, but as long as i am creating work i feel able to cope with that stress.

reading this blog gave me insperation to continue to make work throughout whatever life throws my way.
i would love to stay posted on the continued resarch in this subject.

DaVe-