Photo Credit: John McCoy/Los Angeles Daily News Photographer
There was a recent news story about a Woodland Hills physician, Dr. Arnold Bresky, who calls himself a “preventive gerontologist.” He’s been utilizing art therapy for patients that have Alzheimer’s and dementia.
He claims he has achieved a 70% success rate with in improving his patient’s memories. Bresky claims that helping them to paint and draw reduces their memory loss.
Dr. Bresky calls his program a “Brain Tune Up” and says it’s a multi-disciplinary approach that also implements music. Bresky states that his art therapy program helps people with Alzheimer’s and dementia exercise their brains.
“The brain works through numbers and patterns,” Bresky says. “The numbers are on the left side of your brain, the patterns are on the right side. What I’m doing is connecting the two sides.”
“And we’re getting the brain to grow new cells. It’s called `brain plasticity.’ The brain changes physically to the environment.”
A few testimonials from some of Bresky’s patients (thanks to the Los Angeles Daily News) about Bresky’s Alzheimer’s art therapy program:
“I’ve been a patient of his for years, and I do his art therapy program all the time,” Yolanda Wood says. “I’m always drawing, and it’s helped me. It’s even helped me pass my driver’s license test.”
“The more I did this, the more I enjoyed it,” said Irene Kowalski.
“It got me concentrating, and I like that,” said Molly Morgan.
Learn more about Alzheimer’s
From the Alzheimer’s Association:
http://www.alz.org/index.asp
The 10 warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease:
http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_know_the_10_signs.asp
Learn how Alzheimer’s affects the brain:
http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_4719.asp
What were the exact activities used by Dr. Bresky?
Thank you for this article! I am an Art Therapist working with TBI/Substance Abuse adults and see the transformations through art and music in our program. Some of our clients have dementia as a result of their brain injury and they continue to draw and paint everyday. I am so grateful we can offer these therapies to our clients. Thanks for your blog, I love your articles and comments.
I, too, am doing art therapy with dementia patients. In fact, my entire Adult Day Service is dedicated to doing art with dementia patients in order to create new neurological pathways in the brain and enhance memory. How can I get in touch with Dr. Bresky?
I noticed quite interesting thing: my involvement in art helps me to stay in peace with myself, transforms all personal problems into the images, which colors gladden my eyes and thus make the words the riddles.
Art therapy nourishes the dreams,improves the visions and heals by teaching the patients to focus on what’s beautiful here and now. It looks as a freedom from memory – as the new birth.
Therefore I was confused to read about the improvement of … memory.
Where can i get a sample of Dr Bresky’s art activities for people with dementia. I work with those who have mild to severe dementia. My budget is small but my need is great
Please help
Susan
Did anybody get some specific art therapy activities that can be used?
Thanks
I also do work with Dementia patients using expressive arts modalities and would love to get more info on this work – and and idea how to intergrate his process in my work -how can I reach him to get more info?
I worked at the bedside in a hospice setting as an expressive arts facilitator and some of my clients have dementia. As a nurse, studying expressive arts I have spent 10 years taking classes, workshops etc to find simple processes that are invitations to creative expression. My new book, Art in Small Spaces…art at the bedside, is a guide book with 35 such invitations, which can give ideas for work with a variety of clients. It is also available as an E-book in pdf form that can be sent via email. For more info, my email is julia@constantsource.com For people in the Sarasota, FL area, I teach a one day class with the same title at Ringling College of Art and Design. We have several local groups of expressive artists that meet monthly to share processes. We have so much to teach each other. Thanks for your blog!
I am a Dance Therapist working in Greece and I worke with dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. So I can see all the time the bennefits and how muth the use of the body- movement- as it hapenns also in Art and Dance Therapies- the symbolism and the patterns have the abillity to connect different parts and levels of the human beeing, like left-right side of the brain,feelling- thinking-sencing etc.
So I think and hope that, with researtch,very soon we would be able to proove the privension for this vonnerable population.
I would love some advise on how to make the elder happy, and connected through art,if it be painting, music, cooking, feeling alive again!30 yrs.M.S.S.
Interested in names of expressive art therapists in Sarasota, FL who provide private sessions to alzheimers patients in their homes or would come out to our agency in Sarasota, Fl to do a workshop for seniors.
I am very interested in learning more about art interventions with dementia patients. Can you tell me what theory art therapy is based on?
Hi Robin, I can’t speak particularly for Dr. Bresky, but Art Therapy is an approach in the field of mental health. It’s not based in one theoretical orientation, though it does lend itself to narrative therapy quite well. Any theory can be woven into the process of art therapy, some more fluidly than others, namely those of the post-modern schools.
Training in the materials and consideration of which medium to use is a strong part of the process, as well as a high consideration for the art process in regards to mindfulness. If you have a chance to attend a workshop with an art therapist, this would be of most benefit!
Some art therapists are more interpretive, and some more process oriented. These are basically the two ends–with many in-between places to land– in the rich arena of art therapy! Good luck!
I wonder if anyone can offer any insights into how to offer art therapy to older clients who suffer from a lot of shaking in their hands, I work primarily with older clients many of whom have lost the ability to write or knit easily and yet this was so much a part of who they were.
I’m interested in getting some training in art therapy. I’ve been an art teacher for almost 20 years, and my husband was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers almost 2 years ago. I’m considering the possibility of doing art therapy so I can spend more time with my husband Kevin. I have to organize his days now so I can go to school, so I’d like to be able to work with him more, and perhaps others, since I’ve always loved art and sharing it with my students.