Abstract
Parkinson's disease affects millions of individuals worldwide. The physical symptoms of the disease, including tremor, rigidity, and slowness of movement, are devastating. In the same sense, the cognitive and emotional symptoms of the disease, including slowness of thought, depression, dementia, and psychosis, also have a profound effect on afflicted individuals and their loved ones. 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 depression, dementia, and psychosis as a result of Parkinson's disease. The two met for a total of eight sessions over the course of 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 and worked with multiple types of art media. 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.
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