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Art Therapy Helps Dementia Patients Reclaim Identity Through Memory

Tara Calligan
/
WGCU
Angel Duncan, Art Therapist and Director of Education at the Neuropsychiatric Research Center of Southwest Florida.

When it comes to treating patients with Alzheimers disease or another form of dementia, should caregivers be doing more to treat the person and not just the disease?  We’ll talk with Art Therapist and Director of Education at the Neuropsychiatric Research Center of Southwest Florida, Angel Duncan, about her recently published article in theJournal of Neurology and Neurological Disorders titled “Identity in Memory: Ascertaining Consciousness beyond Dementia.” Duncan uses various case studies to show that despite cellular brain death caused by dementia, a patient’s sense of identity and self-awareness can remain intact and how the arts and sciences can work together to better treat patients.