Why a dose of art may be the cure for a number of society’s ailments

While developing art programs at a London hospital, Dr. Daisy Fancourt began collecting observations that would ultimately change the course of her life’s work.

She watched as a child who’d been hospitalized for burns didn’t need morphine when he was watching a theater performance, and an adult patient with dementia who couldn’t remember her relatives began to sing along perfectly to a song the pianist was playing.

“Isn’t this a lovely entertainment program?” Dr. Fancourt recalls one of the patient’s visitors saying.