Belgian doctors are prescribing museums to alleviate Covid stress

Art is now the antidote to Covid. Well, at least an effective stress reliever, according to Belgian health workers.

Doctors in Brussels are prescribing visits to museums and galleries as part of a three-month pilot program designed to promote mental health amid a dystopian context that is giving rise to a myriad of psychological pathologies.

Patients receiving stress treatment at the Brugmann hospital will be offered free visits to five public centers, including a contemporary museum, a fashion museum, and a sewage museum?

Delphine Houba, Brussels’ councilor for culture and tourism, proposed the idea after being inspired by a similar scheme in Quebec, where doctors can prescribe patients up to 50 museum visits a year. “It has been proven that art is good for mental and physical health,” she told L’Echo. “The COVID crisis, which accentuates stress, burnout, and other pathologies, has confirmed the relevance of such a project.”

The results of this pilot project will be published next year. Once they come out, they will see if they can extend the initiative for a longer period of time. Because what better way to escape from reality than through art?