A creative collaboration: the arts in psychiatric research

There is a rich history of using the arts in psychiatric care, e.g. in various forms of arts therapies. A more recent development is the collaboration of the arts in psychiatric research. The arts and psychiatric research have several fundamental differences which can lead to fruitful inspiration and innovative approaches in research. The benefits include a wider engagement of individuals and non-academic groups in research, creativity in designing research approaches, a reach to societal groups that academic research usually cannot access, and the provision of real life meaning to research evidence. Two examples of such collaborations illustrate the potentials.