In March 2022, I was invited by the National Ageing Research Institute to contribute to the Seminars in Ageing expanding on the value of art therapy in aged care.
In this webinar, I touch on the current landscape of mental health support in residential aged care, an introduction to art therapy as an evidence-based intervention and how it can support older people.
What does art therapy do for older people in aged care?
The goals of art therapy are different for each individual. The outcome depends on each person’s needs. Art therapy in aged care can be an effective intervention that enables older people to:
Facilitate creative play
Playing is important at any age. Play releases endorphins and promotes a sense of wonder and imagination. In art therapy activities, creative play can look like mixing colours, inventing a story out of collage images or experimenting with a new art material you’ve never used before.
To quote English psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott,
“It is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self.”
Decrease depression and anxiety
Art therapy in aged care has been known to decrease symptoms of depression and anxiety through enabling reflection on issues such a s loss and loneliness. Older people experience cumulative loss that can be too confronting to express in words. The supportive presence of an art therapist can help them reflect and process these experiences.
There is a lack of mental health support in aged care so engaging in art activities aimed to facilitate therapeutic outcomes can have a significant impact on aged care residents’ wellbeing.
Contributes to a positive view of self
It is essential to adapt a strengths-based approach when facilitating art therapy activities for people living with dementia. Creative expression celebrates capacity instead of focusing on limitations. Offering appropriate art materials and structured art directives can lead to a sense of accomplishment and contribute to positive self-esteem.
It is impossible to bring back a loved one who has died or restore the lost capabilities that had allowed the person to live independently. What I can do is to help them regain their balance and adjust to the loss and its consequences by strengthening their sense of self and supporting their resilience.
-Raquel Chapin Stephenson
Build interpersonal connections
Group art therapy in aged care can be effective in strengthening interpersonal connections. To create art with others who are supportive and encouraging can be a healing experience. Social isolation has always been prevalent in aged care. Fostering healthy relationships in a creative environment can counter social isolation and improve the resident’s mood.
Encourage a sense of agency
Moving into residential aged care, there are a lot of decisions that are already made for you - the time you wake up, when you shower, what you have for meals etc. When you are creating your own artwork, you are in control. You decide what colour to use, the size of paper, what medium you will work with – these are all choices made independently by the resident. Sometime a bit of encouragement from the art therapist provides a starting point but ultimately the artwork is created by the resident.
For an older person living with dementia in a memory support unit, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to be in control. Art therapy encourages a sense of agency and puts them back in the driver’s seat.
Is art therapy effective for people living with dementia?
I also talk about a recent research study about creative art therapy as a non-pharmacological intervention for people living with dementia.
“In general, the results from this review showed that people with dementia were improving during creative arts therapies across four domains:
Cognitive function
included outcomes relating to changes in attention, concentration, and memory
Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia
outcomes relating to changes in motivation, mood, apathy, instances of aggressive behavior or agitation and sadness
Well-being
outcomes related or encompassed all subdomains of wellbeing, with outcome measures often redefined for every study
Quality of Life
outcomes relating to changes in communication, fulfillment, engagement as well as general quality of life measures”
There is a growing body of evidence that art therapy is beneficial for older people living with dementia. To find out more and to view the recording of the webinar, please click here.
Do you know someone living in residential aged care that could benefit from art therapy? Engaged Art Therapy offers individual and group art therapy in aged care homes in Melbourne. To find out more about our services, click here or send us an e-mail at info@engagedarttherapy.com. We’d love hear from you!
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