Colours, Texture, Packaging Key in Mental Health Therapy, Says Artist

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

The packaging of drugs, designs, texture and choice of colours have been revealed to play large roles in the treatment of psychiatric patients and cases as these have special effects on the complexities of the human mind.

A United Kingdom-based artist, Mr. Danladi Bankole Bako, who disclosed this in Abuja at an arts exhibition, said art works, being mirrors, have become functionality of life and play unquantifiable roles in mental health and balance.

‎He added that arts is a vital organ of every society and deals with the debilitating realities of life with emphasis on the creator being the greatest artist and has given the materials to have a lovely and normal life, both physical and dental.

He noted that for sound mind, nature through arts also made places where people can bathe and refresh and get back their vitality. He said even the beach sand which is alkaline-based, helps to stimulate to sole of the feet when walked on, thereby helping the blood system to function better and in addition to breathing pure oxygen.

He said: “When you go to the psychiatric hospital, you will discover most times that the colour of the uniform worn by patients is pink. Pink is the colour that calms them. It calms their temperament because it’s a calming colour. So art plays a large role in ones mental state.

“Even in the medication that is given to the mentally ill, arts has helped the medical sector right from inception when medical science started from Athens. The packaging of the drugs is product of arts. The designing and labeling of the package makes the patient feel more comfortable and safe. The colours of the medicines also mostly come in colours that will calm and not scare them. The texture of the drugs too, sometimes comes to play. Some are chewy. These are all arts.

“In developed climes, and even here in our nation, you have hospitals having paintings which are a representation of what nature has done. Sometimes when you go out door, you will see beautiful landscape and all is works of arts and that’s what the artist replicates and puts indoors and sometimes outdoor.

“So when most people want to go on vacation, they look for places with lovely serenity. All of these are arts. What is art? It is the serenity and mood and it helps to calm them as well as their mental state and mindset. In places that are decorated with art works, you will observe that the people are happier and in places that have less of arts, like ghettos, you will always see people behaving more harshly,” he added.