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Comment by michaelwww | Hacker News Reader

Art therapy is used on many institutions and other psychiatric holding places so I assume art has already been proven to have therapeutic value

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Does it, though? On the level that you would write a prescription for it like a drug? Taking medicine doesn't rely on your aesthetic taste, judgement, education, etc. It just performs its chemical imperative.

Things like this seem to be tracing the gradual turn of rigorous science-driven disciplines into something else.

> On the level that you would write a prescription for it like a drug?

I'm assuming the prescription is just for bureaucratic purposes to determine who pays for the museum entry fees

Correct. Hopefully this isn't diverting public health money away from other things.

Yeah that's the "something else". The scientific establishment has garnered quite a bit of credibility, resulting in society giving it more power. But now people who are only interested in the power are seeking to have their ideas perceived as scientific instead of political.

Are you referring to this?

Modern art was CIA 'weapon'

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-...

No, I'm referring to the phenomenon that I guess most people are referring to as 'science vs "The Science"'.

Science being the pursuit of knowledge through experimentation and peer review. "The Science" being the use of the imprimatur of scientific legitimacy as a political forcing function and illusion of neutrality to direct money and power in support of one's priorities.

Using science for power the same way the establishment used to use religion for power.

First of all, drugs aren't that simple. They absolutely require judgement in prescribing, and any one drug can affect different people in different ways. See for example the antidepressant class of drugs SSRIs, where there are loads of related drugs, and basically no way (currently) to know which will or won't relieve depression in any single depressed person.

And lots of medicine isn't drug based! Would you write the same comment about the idea of a doctor prescribing extremely studied therapy such as CBD?

Agreed. See my comment in this thread about the lack of scientific / medical input behind this.

If this museum visit scheme came in the form of a pill, it would require years of trials and data proving its efficacy. Why are politicans allowed to bypass the EMA?

Isn't this the very study you are calling for? Sure, it happens with an entire city at once, but given that there's little potential for harm I don't see the issue with that? Surely this experiment will give better data than a tiny study with two dozen participants.

First, psychiatric drugs don't have entirely predictable impact. Choosing them and choosing their dosage is matter of trial and error for many patients. They also often have very heavy damaging side effects.

And second, quite a lot of medical interventions or lifestyle recommendation don't actually have "years of trials and data proving their efficacy" - never did. The years of trials thing happen with drugs, because they are high risk. It does not happen with run of the mill "try to rest on bed", "take walks" kind of advice.

Doctors are allowed to prescribe exercise and vegetables without years of trials.

Tangential, there's some "evidence" suggesting metalheads are happier (on average), music is art right? ;)

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