Art Therapy in Neurocognitive Disorders: Why the Arts Matter in Brain Health

Art has been in existence since mankind. From cave paintings to modern day society, art has been used as to tell a story, document history and provide a voice when words have become lost. We would not have the knowledge of our past had it not been for art. Medically and psychologically, art is often used for self-expression, to find an inner release and explore the process of creativity through physical and emotional pain and healing. For persons with neurocognitive impairments, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), where memory, judgement, and reasoning are disrupted, art has been able to unlock memories thought to be lost, improve behaviors i.e. agitation, depression, and give insight into what the person may be feeling or thinking. Take for example famed artist, Willem de Kooning, some art experts may argue his brilliance as an artist was not fully recognized until his paintings became more rudimentary and abstract. What many do not know is that de Kooning was in the throes of Alzheimer’s disease during his fame (Figure 1).