Using Art Therapy to Address Cognitive Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease affects millions of individuals worldwide. The physical symptoms of PD are devastating. In the same sense, the cognitive symptoms of PD also have a profound effect on afflicted individuals. This study examined the cognitive impairments of Parkinson’s disease and how they can be treated using art therapy. The author of this study met with one individual who suffered from cognitive impairment due to Parkinson’s disease. The two met for eight sessions over a six-week period. During this time, an A-B-A single-subject research design was established, with multiple baselines. Over the course of six weeks, the participant partook in various art therapy directives. The results of this study indicated that art therapy helped decrease the participant’s level of depression and helped maintain the participant’s current level of dementia, partially supporting this research study’s hypothesis. The results of this study underscore the need for further research in this area.