In the midst of mounting pressure on healthcare systems, Jill Sonke offers a powerful reframe: integrating the arts into medicine is not a luxury—it’s a necessary evolution. Drawing from her decades of experience in hospitals as a dancer-in-residence, Sonke outlines how artistic engagement—through music, dance, and visual expression—can promote healing, reduce suffering, and restore a sense of wholeness in both patients and providers.
Sonke’s journey began with two parallel passions: a childhood dream of becoming a doctor and a transformative high school encounter with dance. While they seemed like divergent paths, both ultimately merged into her calling: bringing the arts into healthcare settings to support healing in ways medicine alone often cannot.
From her early hospital volunteer days to her time at Interlochen Arts Academy, and later as a practitioner at UF Health Shands, Sonke’s firsthand experiences built the foundation for her conviction that medicine is incomplete without the arts.
At first, Sonke was uncomfortable with the idea of her work being labeled as “just a distraction.” But over time, she embraced the neuroscience behind it:
Distraction through the arts isn’t superficial—it reroutes attention away from pain and anxiety due to our limited cognitive bandwidth.
Creative activities can induce physiological responses:
Bertis: A Master of Flow
Bertis, a young patient with sickle cell disease, used dance to transcend severe pain. Her ability to enter a flow state—total absorption in movement—reduced her need for medication. Her story not only validated the therapeutic power of dance but reshaped how her care team approached pain management.
“Dancing works better than meds — call Arts in Medicine.”
—Note from Bertis’s doctor in her medical chart
Self-Transcendence in Action
Another patient, while visualizing a beach through movement, exclaimed:
“Now I know I’m going to be all right. The seashells all just turned to jewels.”
This moment of self-transcendence—shifting perception and unlocking inner meaning—was more powerful than any prognosis. It illustrates how the arts help patients connect to something larger than themselves, especially in moments of vulnerability.
Sonke draws from both personal stories and research:
These findings echo insights from Viktor Frankl and Abraham Maslow, who saw self-transcendence as a vital human capacity for finding meaning.
Years into her career, Sonke found herself in the hospital undergoing eye surgery. Between procedures, two musicians visited her bedside. The moment overwhelmed her—not with fear, but with beauty. She wept, not because of pain, but because she felt deeply seen, cared for, and humanized.
“That moment rises to the top instead of the difficult moments. I felt well, whole, and joyful.”
In a post-pandemic world, healthcare workers are burned out, hospitals are stretched thin, and patient needs go beyond physical treatment. Integrating the arts:
Today, nearly half of U.S. hospitals have arts programs—and growing evidence supports their efficacy in clinical settings.
Medicine today can achieve miracles. But without the arts, it lacks wholeness. Jill Sonke’s work and this article remind us that healing is not only a biological process—it’s also emotional, spiritual, and profoundly human.
The arts offer more than distraction—they offer transcendence, connection, and meaning.
“Physicians separate the soul from the body. That is the great error of our day.”
—Plato
Original Source:
Sonke, J. (2023). Why Medicine Needs the Arts. American Federation of Teachers – Health Care (https://www.aft.org/hc/spring2023/sonke).
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