SINGAPORE – There has been growing interest in emergent modes of healing in Singapore, notably performing arts medicine (PAM) – targeted at musicians, dancers, singers and other performers – and poetry therapy, also known as poetic medicine.
PAM addresses needs that are specific to performing artistes and helps them perform to their best ability. It often involves a multidisciplinary team of professionals like doctors, psychologists, nutritionists and physiotherapists.
Physical strain arising from repetitive movements and long hours of training, as well as performance anxiety, are possible areas of concern. Many dancers have musculoskeletal injuries due to overuse, while vocalists can be prone to laryngitis and polyps.
Noting the large number of arts events in Singapore, Ms Pooja Verma, a senior physiotherapist at Physio Asia Therapy Centre who specialises in PAM, says: “Singapore is growing in the arts field, but has a long way to go in terms of awareness of performing arts medicine.”
Likewise, poetry therapy is new to Singapore, says Professor Joseph Sung, dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
While uncommon as a type of formal therapy, having the ability to soothe and help people express deep emotions is useful in the healthcare sector, where doctors and medical students are among those who face “tremendous stress”, he says.
These forms of healing are more established overseas. The British Association for Performing Arts Medicine, for example, marks its 40th anniversary in 2024, while the Association for Poetry Therapy was established in the United States in 1969.
The Straits Times speaks to practitioners, performers and patients who are passionate about these under-the-radar approaches towards mental and physical well-being.
Performing arts medicine: Strengthening the minds and bodies of performers
Several heavyweight arts groups here have engaged the services of practitioners trained in performing arts medicine in recent years, indicating growing demand.
These include the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and the SAF Central Band, the premier band of the Singapore Armed Forces, which often performs at the Istana for presidential events and welcome ceremonies for foreign dignitaries.
In December 2021, Changi General Hospital also launched a Performing Arts Medicine Clinic at the Singapore Sport and Exercise Medicine Centre at Novena Medical Center. Similar services are offered at CGH.
Poetry therapy: How writing poems helps both patients and healthcare workers
For a few days in February, about 200 doctors, nurses, medical students, hospice staff and patients in Singapore read and wrote poems.
In a series of workshops, they and other healthcare workers reflected on poems that grappled with illness and mortality. Inspired by their own work and lives, they penned down their thoughts in free verse, even though some said they did not enjoy the literature classes they took decades ago in school.
One participant recalled a patient who had died unexpectedly. Another wrote stanzas sparked by the application of a medical grant. Some attendees pondered the burden of living with tumours. One person sang part of the poem she wrote.
The workshops, held from Feb 13 to 24, were conducted by Mr John Fox, the American founder of The Institute for Poetic Medicine, a non-profit organisation based in California. Organised by National Cancer Centre Singapore, the sessions were held at the cancer centre, Singapore General Hospital, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and Assisi Hospice.
The programme, titled Poetry As The Healer (Path), was an introduction to poetry therapy or – as Mr Fox prefers to term it – poetic medicine.
