The use of art in dementia care is a valuable tool in enriching the lives of people with dementia.

Background

Being engaged with visual and performing arts provides opportunities for people with dementia to express themselves creatively. Through the process of creating an image or participating in a song for example, a person with dementia may access long or short term memories. Being engaged in the arts may provide an access to emotions, self-exploration, thoughts, dreams and hopes.

While scientists are racing to find a cure, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada , about half a million Canadians were living with dementia in 2009. The arts provide a non-pharmaceutical approach that helps alleviate anxiety and confusion and provide some respite for people with dementia and their caregivers. Being engaged in the arts is a positive way of maintaining or improving one's quality of life, especially those who live with dementia.

Films on art and dementia

The documentary film I Remember Better When I Paint

I Remember Better When I Paint

I Remember Better When I Paint is a 2009 feature length international documentary film about the positive impact of art and other creative therapies in people with Alzheimer's disease and how these approaches can change the way the disease is viewed by society...

examines the way creative arts bypass the limitations of dementias such as Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...

. The film highlights how patients' still-vibrant imaginations are strengthened through therapeutic art.

See also

• Caregiving and dementia
  Caregiving and dementia
  As populations age, caregiving and dementia become more common aspects of life. In most mild to medium cases of dementia the primary caregiver is a family member, usually a spouse or adult child...
  
  
• Montessori-Based Dementia Programming
  Montessori-Based Dementia Programming
  Montessori-Based Dementia Programming is a method of working witholder adults living with cognitive and/or physical impairments based on the ideas of the educator Maria Montessori. It has been shown to increase levels of engagement and participation in activities of persons with dementia...
  
  
• Alcohol dementia
  Alcohol dementia
  Alcohol dementia, which is sometimes associated with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, is a form of dementia caused by long-term or excessive drinking resulting in neurological damage and memory loss. Other names for the condition are alcoholic dementia, alcohol related dementia and alcohol-induced...
  
  
• Agitation (dementia)
  Agitation (dementia)
  Agitation often accompanies dementia and often precedes the diagnosis of common age-related disorders of cognition such as Alzheimer's disease...
  
  
• Silver Alert
  Silver Alert
  A Silver Alert is a public notification system in the United States to broadcast information about missing persons - especially seniors with Alzheimer's Disease, dementia or other mental disabilities - in order to aid in their return....
  
  
• Sundowning (dementia)
  Sundowning (dementia)
  In medicine, sundowning, also known as sundown syndrome, is a syndrome involving the occurrence or increase of one or more abnormal behaviors in a circadian rhythm. Sundowning typically occurs during the late afternoon, evening, and night, hence the name. It occurs in persons with certain forms of...
  
  
• Wandering (dementia)
  Wandering (dementia)
  Wandering, in persons with dementia, is a common behavior that can cause great risk for the person, and is often the major priority for caregivers. It is estimated to be the most common form disruption from people with dementia within institutions. Although it occurs in several types of...
  
  
• Prion
  Prion
  A prion is an infectious agent composed of protein in a misfolded form. This is in contrast to all other known infectious agents which must contain nucleic acids . The word prion, coined in 1982 by Stanley B. Prusiner, is a portmanteau derived from the words protein and infection...
  
  
• The Society for the Arts in Dementia Care
  The Society for the Arts in Dementia Care
  The Society for the Arts in Dementia Care is a non-profit organization dedicated to knowledge dissemination and education that focuses on improving the quality of lives of seniors living with dementia by using the visual and performing arts.-Background:...
  
  

External links

• Therapy and Dementia
• The Society for the Arts and Dementia Care, Creative Expression, Communication and Dementia - Posted by Dr. Asa Don Brown
• The Society for the Arts and Dementia Care (Australia) Inc. - Posted by Dr. Asa Don Brown
• - The Center John Hopkins, Center on Aging and Health
• UBC Brain Research Centre
• Institute of Health Promotion Research
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Aging
• University of California San Francisco, Memory and Aging Centre
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Neurosciences
• Gerontology Research Centre, Department of Gerontology, Simon Fraser University
• Alzheimer Society of Canada
• Canadian Association on Gerontology
• International Association of Gerontology
• Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research
• British Columbia Activity Coordinator Association
• The Dementia Centre - Information provided by PSS (Personal Services Society). Provides information and support to people with dementia, their carers, and health professionals.
• Alzheimer's Research Trust - What is dementia? - Information produced by the Alzheimer's Research Trust including statistics.
• Alzheimer's Society - About dementia - Information produced by the Alzheimer's Society including factsheets and support.
• Alzheimer's Disease Support Information about Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia provided by Alzheimer's Disease Support Canada.
• Dementia and Huntington's Disease guide from the Huntington's Disease Outreach Project for Education at Stanford
  Huntington's Disease Outreach Project for Education at Stanford
  The Huntington’s disease Outreach Project for Education at Stanford is a student-run project at Stanford University dedicated to making scientific information about Huntington’s disease more readily accessible to patients and the public. Initiated by Professor William H...
  
  
• Dementia Research News from ScienceDaily
• The Dementia Services Development Centre, University of Stirling
• Dementia tutorial for U.K. practitioners by the Alzheimer's Society
• Report from the Ministerial Summit on Dementia Research
• Understanding Dementia: a primer of diagnosis and management
• AlzOnline - AlzOnline provides education, information, and support to persons caring for someone with Alzheimer's disease or a related memory problem.
• CSIP National Older Persons Mental Health Programme Includes an involvement toolkit with tips on how people with dementia can get involved in the planning, development and evaluation of services
• Dementia Advocacy and Support Network
• Medicinenet
• AgingCare.com -- provides information on dementia, Alzheimer's, elder care and other related topics, as well as an online support group for family caregivers who are taking care of elderly and aging family members.
• International Association for the Study of Pain Global Year of Pain in Older Persons resources
• Understand Pain and Dementia tutorial from the Occupational Therapy Department at the University of Alberta
• Concise Guidelines to Better Practice The Assessment of Pain in Older Person - British Pain Society (2007)
• Pain in residential aged care facilities:Management strategies Australian Pain Society (2005)
• Pain Management Kit for Aged Care Government of Australia (2007)