Can Alzheimer’s be treated with the arts? Researchers aim to determine the answer. - The Washington Post
Sections 
Sign In
Search
Monday, January 5 2015
Ad
Local
Can Alzheimer’s be treated with the arts?
Researchers aim to determine the answer.







7
Advertisement
Can music and art help with Alzheimer’s patients?
 View Photos
Researchers look for quantifiable effect of arts.
By Fredrick Kunkle December 26, 2014 
As
rock-and-roll fills a sunny recreation room at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...w-the-arts-can-help-the-elderly-and-cognitively-disabled/2014/12/26/e0d5561a-87b1-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html[1/5/2015 1:11:55 PM]
Can Alzheimer’s be treated with the arts? Researchers aim to determine the answer. - The Washington Post
Birmingham Green in Manassas, residents of the assistedliving facility seem swept up in the
music as if by a powerful
wind.
Most Read Local
Brett Sigmundsson, 52, belts out
the lyrics of a Beatles tune
while dancing in place with all the vigor of a middle-aged
Mick Jagger. John Archer, 64, rises to his feet in dance. Up
front, Norma Felter, 85, a former department store clerk
whose
eyes are glued to a TV screen showing the lyrics for
“Hey Jude,” sings into a microphone, not always in sync
with the words but joyfully all the same. Even those whose
thoughts appear far away sometimes sway or tap their
fingers in time to the beat.
1 D.C. area
forecast:
Winter
seizes
control very cold
this week
with snow
likely
Tuesday
morning
2 Tuesday
The karaoke session is a popular draw at the facility. But
music, art and dance sessions like these are also the subject
of intensifying interest among the scientific community.
morning
commute
will likely
be snowy
for the
D.C. area forecast
and details
As the nation’s median age rises and baby boomers retire,
the federal government, universities and health-care
institutions are seeking to determine whether the arts have a
quantifiably therapeutic effect on people with Alzheimer’s
disease or other age-related disabilities.
Many researchers agree
evidence seems promising that the
arts can improve cognitive function and memory, bolster a
person’s mood and sense of well-being, and reduce stress,
agitation and aggression. But many previous studies have
been too limited or poorly designed to say for sure.
The
National
Endowment for the
Arts and the
National Institutes
3 A notorious
piece of
Washington
real estate
struggles
to find
buyers
4 As
sentencing
approaches
McDonnell
leans on
his friends
and faith
5 A
swimmable
Anacostia
River?
Something
to look
forward to,
in a
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...w-the-arts-can-help-the-elderly-and-cognitively-disabled/2014/12/26/e0d5561a-87b1-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html[1/5/2015 1:11:55 PM]
Can Alzheimer’s be treated with the arts? Researchers aim to determine the answer. - The Washington Post
of Health and
others are pushing
decade or
more.
for more answers.
George
Moseley in front of a mural he
painted in an empty room at Birmingham
Green, an elder care residence in
Manassas, Va., on Nov. 21. Painting “helps
me to manage and cope, to have a positive
attitude,” he said. (Evelyn Hockstein/For
The Washington Post)
At Birmingham
Don't miss a single story.
Green, researchers
Subscribe
from George Mason
University are
conducting a
federally subsidized
study to examine the impact of the arts on the emotional
and cognitive health of older adults.
“There still needs to be a
lot of work done,” said Sunil
Iyengar, who heads the Office of Research and Analysis at
the NEA. Iyengar said research into the effect of art on
people with cognitive impairments has suffered from a lack
of rigor.
Too many studies lacked proper controls, involved samples
that were too small, and were poorly defined. They also may
have been looking for the wrong thing, Iyengar said. While
The Most Popular All Over
TIME
Vote Now:
Who Should
Be TIME’s
Person of the
Year?
(3166906
views)
The Dodo
6 Major
Animal Issues
Worth
Fighting For
This Year
The Baltimore
Sun
Spying forever
searching for hard evidence of biological improvements in
memory or cognition, many also overlooked measurable
improvements in the mood and well-being of people with
Alzheimer’s, and their caregivers, too.
Advertisement
Advertisement
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...w-the-arts-can-help-the-elderly-and-cognitively-disabled/2014/12/26/e0d5561a-87b1-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html[1/5/2015 1:11:55 PM]
Can Alzheimer’s be treated with the arts? Researchers aim to determine the answer. - The Washington Post
In
a paper titled “Shall I Compare Thee to a Dose of
Donepezil,” researchers Kate de Medeiros and Anne Basting
called for developing research models that would better suit
interventions that
involve the imagination and meaningful
personal experiences, instead of
those that have been used
to test clinical efficacy of pharmaceuticals.
“I
think these are the so-called intangibles that we as a
society have tended to underplay,” Iyengar said. “These are
really devastating diseases for these people and their
families, and anything you can do to reduce that pain is
important.”
Our Online Games
Play right from this page
The National Academy of Sciences, at the request of the NEA
and NIH, convened a public workshop in March 2011 to
investigate ways to bolster research into arts-related
interventions for aging adults. Several studies have hinted at
the promise of integrating the arts into therapy for age-
Spider Solitaire
Genre(s): Card
Spider Solitaire is known
as the king of all solitaire
games!
52 card pickup
Genre(s): Card
Pick up cards as fast as
you can!
related disabilities.
Dance and movement have been shown to help older people
avoid falls. Acting sessions can strengthen the sense of social
ties and community, a critical need for people whose
cognitive
impairment can lead to isolation. Interventions
using everything from drum circles to poetry have been
shown to improve psychological symptoms, such as
aggression, in patients with cognitive impairment.
Tri-Peaks Solitaire
Genre(s): Card
Reveal cards as you clear
your way to the top!
Carniball
Genre(s): Arcade
This amusment park
classic will bring back
some joyous memories
Music has been
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...w-the-arts-can-help-the-elderly-and-cognitively-disabled/2014/12/26/e0d5561a-87b1-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html[1/5/2015 1:11:55 PM]
Can Alzheimer’s be treated with the arts? Researchers aim to determine the answer. - The Washington Post
found
to have a
particularly strong
effect on cognitive
function. Research
has shown that
musical training
Norma
Felter sings “Hey Jude” with activity
aide Tina Burhans-Robinson during karaoke
at Birmingham Green. (Evelyn
Hockstein/For The Washington Post)
can help older
trending articles
Abducted infant found dead in
Southern California dumpster
The Countries Where Men Do
Housework
31 Healthy Meals You Can
Make in 10 Minutes or Less
people distinguish
speech
better,
Advertisement
particularly amid
background noise. People recovering from brain injuries,
such as a stroke, have been shown to sing words and phrases
that they might not otherwise be able to speak. Performing
music
also relies heavily on memory and understanding of
visual and sound patterns. For these reasons, people with
musical training may weather the effects of aging better than
non-musicians.
“But outside of these things is sheer joy,” said Gary Glazner,
founder and executive director of the Alzheimer’s Poetry
Project. Glazner said he was working at an adult day-care
center in Northern California and searching for ways to
connect with people with Alzheimer’s disease when he
discovered the power of poetry to reach people with
cognitive impairment.
Having studied poetry in college, Glazner shared Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Arrow and The Song”
with a resident and from the first line — “I shot an arrow” —
hit the mark. Glazner uses poetry, particularly beloved
classics learned by older adults, in call-and-response with
older people and guides them in writing poems. Jump-rope
rhymes, even military cadences, can evoke responses from
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...w-the-arts-can-help-the-elderly-and-cognitively-disabled/2014/12/26/e0d5561a-87b1-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html[1/5/2015 1:11:55 PM]
Can Alzheimer’s be treated with the arts? Researchers aim to determine the answer. - The Washington Post
people with cognitive impairment that engage them, he said.
Advertisement
Holly
C. Matto, a professor of social work at GMU who is
conducting the experiment at Birmingham Green, said
people with cognitive impairment often feel overwhelmed by
their inability to process and integrate information from
their surroundings. Using the arts, particularly nonverbal
arts such as painting and music, can help restore a sense of
organizing their world.
“Those nonverbal ways of communicating are not impaired,”
she said.
Her
18-month study, supported in part by a $25,000 grant
from the NEA, involves taking groups of 10 randomly
assigned people and engaging them in twice-weekly sessions
using music, imagery and movement. (There is also a
control group.) Those who participate in the study are
invited to
choose music for the group to listen to and then
let their imaginations
and memories roam. They also use
painting to express what they feel in the music. And they are
invited to dance. (Study guidelines forbid observing the
study itself, but a reporter was allowed to observe other art
programs at the center.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...w-the-arts-can-help-the-elderly-and-cognitively-disabled/2014/12/26/e0d5561a-87b1-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html[1/5/2015 1:11:55 PM]
Can Alzheimer’s be treated with the arts? Researchers aim to determine the answer. - The Washington Post
“The hypothesis is that after folks participate in this study,
the people will show an improvement in mood and possibly
a change in cognitive function,” Matto said. She
said the
study subjects and control group are to be evaluated before
and after the sessions begin using accepted clinical tools,
such as the Profile of Mood States, cognitive assessments
and the Geriatric Depression Scale, to evaluate whether the
sessions have any lasting impact on the subjects’ mood or
well-being.
“It makes
me happy,” said Felter, who had been rocking to
the Beatles from her wheelchair. She said the music helps
her adjust to the stresses of living in a communal setting.
Kathryn Dodd, 65, who lived in Ashburn before moving to
Birmingham Green, said listening to tunes by James Taylor
and Mary J. Blige allowed her mind to wander to pleasant
memories from years ago.
“Music brings memories. I basically try to remember the
good times — I don’t like to dwell on the bad times — and
music brings those out,” Dodd said. “I got a lot out of it.”
Advertisement
All over Birmingham Green are visual reminders of the relief
art can bring.
George
D. Moseley, 70, who suffers from paranoid
schizophrenia, said his love of painting vivid murals of
flowers, birds and landscapes — all showing the influence of
Thomas Hart Benton and years of formal training
at the
Corcoran School of Art — has been instrumental in helping
manage a lifelong cognitive disability, instead of medication.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...w-the-arts-can-help-the-elderly-and-cognitively-disabled/2014/12/26/e0d5561a-87b1-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html[1/5/2015 1:11:55 PM]
Can Alzheimer’s be treated with the arts? Researchers aim to determine the answer. - The Washington Post
He describes his art in almost religious terms, saying the
activity delivers him from the bondage of his condition.
“It helps me to manage and cope, to have a positive attitude,”
he said. “The paintbrush and the art give me an outlook and
a feeling of serenity and peace, love, and joy. The paintbrush
is the treatment for all else that has failed.”
 SHARE ON FACEBOOK
7
 SHARE ON TWITTER
COMMENTS
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...w-the-arts-can-help-the-elderly-and-cognitively-disabled/2014/12/26/e0d5561a-87b1-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html[1/5/2015 1:11:55 PM]
Can Alzheimer’s be treated with the arts? Researchers aim to determine the answer. - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...w-the-arts-can-help-the-elderly-and-cognitively-disabled/2014/12/26/e0d5561a-87b1-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html[1/5/2015 1:11:55 PM]