Article by Julia Hotz, Published by Scientific American. August 28, 2024.
Read the full article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/social-prescriptions-can-transform-medicine-and-better-our-lives/#:~:text=Instead%20of%20a%20recommendation%20to,what’s%20the%20matter%20with%20them.
Excerpt:
Imagine a pill could help treat symptoms of everything from depression to dementia. Imagine this pill could reduce hospitalizations, doctor’s office visits and health care spending. And then, imagine this pill came with no side effects or backbreaking costs; imagine a pill that doctors would feel good about prescribing, and patients would feel good about taking.
This medicine does exist, but it doesn’t come in a pill; instead, it comes as a “social prescription”—a referral to nonpharmaceutical, community-based resources and activities, like art classes and cycling clubs.
Instead of a recommendation to exercise or socialize, a social prescription is tailored to that patient’s specific interests—what brings them joy, purpose, awe, flow and childlike curiosity. It’s a medicine based on what matters to a patient, instead of just what’s the matter with them.
This might sound woo-woo, but social prescribing is rooted in rigorous research and a critical public health fact: more than 80 percent of our health outcomes are driven by social factors in our environments, while only 16 percent are related to clinical care. In other words, to be healthy, we need access to basic resources—clean air, nutritious food, stable housing, freedom from violence and discrimination, and psychological resources—outlets that help us cope with stress, activities that give us a sense of purpose, people we can call at 3 A.M. in a crisis.