Welsh brain scientist, Dr. Joel Pearson, says coloring helps adults replace negative thoughts and images with positive ones.

Coloring produces measurable effects

Dr. Stan Rodski, a neurophysicist who also creates adult coloring books says “colorists” enjoy results similar to those from meditation, including changes in heart rate and changes in brainwaves.

Dana Dovey, besides quoting Pearson and Rodski in her article, The Therapeutic Science Of Adult Coloring Books: How This Childhood Pastime Helps Adults Relieve Stress,  clarified that

…adult coloring books are not a cure for disease but an effective coping mechanism for people suffering from cancer, depression, dementia, anxiety, and PTSD.

Adult coloring books a booming business

Writing for Flavorwire.com, Sarah Seltzer asked in August 2015: “Are Grown-Up Coloring Books the Future of Publishing?”

Not long afterward, on December 13, the online New York Post confirmed that adult coloring books are publishing’s hottest trend.

Adult coloring as a social activity

Seltzer said, as part of the trend that bookstores are planning coloring parties, and that groups of adults are arranging coloring lunches. The coloring craze, she says

…isn’t just a way back to childhood, but a path back into a state of creation where process trumps result.

Working on art is a right-brain activity that contributes to mindfulness and adds a bit of whimsy to every day life. Just like children have always done, adults lose track of time while coloring.

No publisher left behind

Publishers Weekly gives most credit to Scottish illustrator, Johanna Basford, for the 2015 publishing craze. Coloring books, traditionally a children’s market item, are sold now by the millions to adults, and nearly if not all major publishing companies in the United States publish them.

For example, Warner Press publishes a Christian-based series – Peaceful Reflections and Beloved Scriptures – that include pages for journaling and material for devotions.

Telebrands Press publishes a Colorama package with its own coloring pencils for more than 100 designs.  Most packages sell for $12.99 plus $6.99 for shipping and handling.