This is potentially important work and of use in several ways. I have seen presentations by art therapists working with patients with dementia who describe stages of art performance common to different stages of dementia (stage 3 is pontillist, for example). But I've seen nobody who has taken art therapy and used it as a diagnostic in this area. Did you happen to find anyone writing about art therapy's diagnostic potential?
Tom koch
University of British Columbia
Hi Tom,
I agree with the importance and potential impact of this work, and I'm glad you are looking into it! There has been some work on what is called the Diagnostic Drawing Series that attempts to quantify some elements of art therapy: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07421656.1994.10759060
Nicholas,
Thanks for this. Art Therapy isn't an area I work in although at gerontology and other conferences where art therapists present I've been stunned by the diagnostic power of the images seen when correlated with aspects of the underlying conditions. I'll check this out. But certainly in the arena of dementia it's a tool I've used informally.
Hi Tom,
"Creativity and dementia: emerging diagnostic and treatment methods for Alzheimer's disease."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18264030
Yes, it's a good article. I'm not surprised that creativity endures in the context of dementia or other neurological disorders. My point was that the course of the disease can be tracked by the different styles that are commonly used by persons whose dementia is progressing. For example, everyone with stage three dementia moves into a pointillist kind of drawing constructed by tiny dots. So the point of my comments and those of the paper, more focused on research treatment, are somewhat different.
Hi Tom,
I really don't know whether this helps, 'Der "Writing Score"- Test', a summary of research about the impact of dementia on handwriting, writing strokes, use of space,..etc., and its use for diagnosis:
http://graphologie-news.n2g07.com/l/259025219/c/0-qmhn-isd2l2-4oa
Dear Marianne, if I may:
My German is a bit rusty but this article was interesting. The handwriting is distinct from the art diagnostic but related to it. The handwriting is more about motor control but its progression across stages will have some commonalities. Putting them together--art as diagnostic and handwriting as an ancillary--would be very useful. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Now I need to dust off my German and get down to it more closely.
Tom Koch