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Hello all, This isn't specifically PD related, but I think the concept is pretty unusual and appealing. Any news article that discusses the human brain and its pathways... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Doctor asks, can art help Alzheimer's patients? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1996 Nando.net Copyright © 1996 Reuter Information Service LONDON (Apr 18, 1996 11:30 p.m. EDT) - The near-miraculous recovery of a renowned American artist suffering from Alzheimer's disease could point to art as a therapy for dementia patients, a doctor suggested Friday. Willem de Kooning, 92 next week, started showing symptoms of Alzheimer's in the 1970s. He gradually stopped painting and the world mourned the loss of a master. But within 10 years he started up again, encouraged by family and friends, and filled art galleries and museums with his increasingly abstract works. Carlos Hugo Espinel of the Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, a doctor who specializes in medicine and art, said this could point to a possible therapy for Alzheimer's. "De Kooning's treatment involved the cooperative effort of his wife, Elaine, and a group of friends," Espinel wrote in the Lancet medical journal. "He withdrew from alcohol; he began to eat a balanced diet and exercised daily; and he regained strength. He returned to his brushes and paints...he could begin again. His rehabilitation technique was unique," Espinel said. "His resurgence is a testimony to the potential of the human mind, evidence for hope." Espinel said improved nutrition and sleep were known to help dementia patients, but art could also hold an important clue. "In the search for a cure, we usually approach the brain with psychotherapy, pharmacological agents and lately tissue transplants," he said. "Yet the brain works with and through sensory pathways. It was colors and forms that, in the struggle for the restoration of his self, travelled along de Kooning's pathways." Espinel concluded: "De Kooning's recovery suggests art as an aid for the understanding of dementia, and art as a discipline for the study of the mind." Up to 20 million people suffer from Alzheimer's, a disease mostly of old age which erodes the brain, affecting memory, thinking and behavior. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- janet your parkie sister in paradise, where the canna lillies and amaryllis are jostling for blooming space under my living room window. [log in to unmask]