Shifting Swedish Mindsets: From Mechanistic to Creative

The GPCC, founded in 2010, is a world-leading research centre supported by the Swedish Government that comprises over 200 researchers, clinics, and patients that collaborate on projects to improve person-centred care. Person-centred care treats patients as whole individuals, not just their illnesses and it involves a partnership between patients and healthcare workers, starting with listening to the patient's story to create a personalized health plan. Studies show this approach saves costs, and benefits both patients and staff. GPCC's vision is sustainable health through person-centred care, aiming to reduce suffering and enhance healthcare efficiency.

I made the trip to Sweden with Balbir Singh, Artistic Director of the Balbir Singh Dance Company based in Leeds and one of the UK’s leading intercultural companies making dance theatre that tells stories to excite the senses and generate conversations. Balbir and I, and our respective teams, have been working together for a number of years ‘Unmasking Pain’ through art and creativity, and this work has drawn international attention – hence the invitation to Gothenburg.

The purpose of our visit was to deliver a three-day seminar with Dr Dila Demir, artist and researcher at the Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn. The seminar was titled: Co-Creative healthcare and research: Shifting mindsets from mechanistic to creative. The seminar was organized by Dr Birgit Heckemann and Prof. Axel Wolf on behalf of GPCC, the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Östra Hospital, Gothenburg and the research network Gothenburg Pain Lab. The seminar consisted of presentations, panel discussions and workshops about Creativity and Arts in Healthcare Research.

Balbir talked about Creative Treatments - Dissolving the gap Between Participant and Artist, Dila talked about Rethinking Chronic Conditions: Creative Practices for Diseased Bodies, and I talked about Transforming Perspectives on Pain, through Flipping, Unmasking and Rethinking our approaches. Later in the week our colleague, Devika Rao (Devika Rao Dance Theatre), who recently performed at the INSA LBU Dewali Cultural event, flew in from India to assist with delivery of our workshops. The workshops were fascinating. Balbir and Devika’s workshops were titled ‘Understanding and Expressing one's Experience of Persistent Pain Through a Creative Mindset’. They utilised classical Indian dance and music to explore how differences in body movement across dance styles, storytelling through hand gestures, and the aural tradition of learning and voice could assist communication, emotional expression, and well-being.

Dila’s workshops were titled ‘Making Pain Creatures: Towards Eliciting Bodily Experiences through Creative Tools’. They explored non-habitual bodily engagements through movement and material interactions to elicit and express experiences of pain. Dila provided tools to transform implicit sensations, such as pain, into tangible manifestations called ‘Pain Creatures’ that extend from the body to foster new bodily perspectives and deepen bodily awareness.

These workshops ignited a dazzling fusion of art and embodiment, transforming pain into poetry and movement into medicine—revealing the profound power of creativity to reimagine, communicate, and heal.