Inherent commonalities between arts-based leisure activities and psychological therapies

Prevalences of anxiety, depression, and related mental health difficulties continue to rise across many high-income countries, while existing treatment services face growing pressures and limited capacity. Alongside formal psychological and pharmacological interventions, everyday behaviours that support mental health resilience warrant greater attention. An expanding evidence base shows that arts-based leisure activities-including participating in music, visual arts, dance, creative writing, and visiting cultural venues and performances-can produce meaningful psychological benefits for people with mental disorders across different diagnostic groups and levels of symptom severity. This Personal View explores how arts-based leisure engagement addresses core transdiagnostic cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioural processes underpinning mental health conditions. We discuss the commonalities between arts-based leisure activities and psychological therapies in terms of the core principles and processes activated as well as common therapeutic contextual factors such as relationships, expectancy, and identity formation. We consider the overlaps and important distinctions between arts-based leisure and creative arts therapies. Looking ahead, we identify key research priorities-including the need for head-to-head trials and culturally diverse evidence-to inform whether arts-based leisure engagement should be more explicitly integrated into mental health care pathways. We conclude by considering the implications of this Personal View for clinical practice within high-income contexts.