When Words Have Lost Their Meaning

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When Words Have Lost Their Meaning Alzheimer's Patients Communicate through Art

Ruth Abraham

ISBN: 0-275-97989-X

ISBN-13: 978-0-275-97989-8

DOI:

224 pages

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 11/30/2004

List Price: $55.00 (UK Sterling Price: £37.95)

Discount Price: $27.50 Sale Price for U.S. Customers Only. Save 50%. Ends 12/31/2009.

Availability: In Stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Also Available: Ebook

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Description: Therapist Abraham shows how art can provide people with Alzheimer's disease a way to express their thoughts and emotions, when they can no longer communicate well verbally and words have lost their meaning. Abraham believes it is our moral obligation to provide elders with this tool, lest they be prematurely deemed beyond interaction. The confidence and self-esteem of elders—and that of the people who love them —can be bolstered by art therapy. And this is the first work demonstrating that art is not just busy work for those with Alzheimer's, but a profound and symbolic method allowing them to communicate. This work includes more than 70 drawings and paintings by people with Alzheimer's, and case histories of the men and women who created the artworks.

Art activities, with a significant therapeutic relationship, can especially increase quality of life for people with Alzheimer's, particularly during the seven-year relatively stable period of the illness. Psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and health care workers will also find this work especially valuable and insightful.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Getting to Know the Alzheimer's Patient
Does Art Therapy Really Help?
The Therapeutic Hour: A Practical Guide
Theoretical Perspectives
Portraits: Three Case Studies
Promoting Art Therapy
A Personal Story
Afterword
References

About the Author: RUTH ABRAHAM is a Senior Lecturer in Art Therapy for a Post Graduate Program in the Beit Berl College School of Art in Israel. She maintains a private practice as an art therapist with children and adults. For eight years she worked as an art therapist in a center for dementia patients. In her spare time she continues to paint and write.

LCC Class: 616


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