Creativity in an artist with Alzheimer's disease: A case study

"The brain is not a black box. Just because someone can't speak, doesn't mean we can't find other ways. The brain has so many complex systems we are only beginning to understand."

Dr. Luis Fornazzari

For immediate release: May 26, 2005 (Toronto) Ms. Danae Chambers' artwork has been shown in famous galleries throughout the world.  She has been commissioned to paint portraits of very important people in Canada and abroad. As a result of Alzheimer's disease, she experienced a dramatic deterioration of her communication, memory and life skills, but she could still paint beautifully.

For Dr. Luis Fornazzari, a researcher from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the University of Toronto and Clinical Director of the Multilingual Multicultural Memory Clinic at CAMH, this association between creativity and mental illness needed to be explored.

"The distinctiveness of Danae Chambers' story is that while examining her, we concentrated on the positive aspects of what was still functioning in her brain, such as her creative ability," says Dr. Fornazzari. Traditionally, the approach in treating Alzheimer's disease and related dementia in patients is to focus on what is not functioning in the patient, such as memory loss and difficulties with daily life and communication. By focusing on abilities instead of cognitive deficits, Dr. Fornazzari is pioneering a new approach in the treatment of Alzheimer disease and related dementia. 

"The tragedy of Alzheimer's disease is that when the disease is very advanced, the patient often becomes totally isolated and can't communicate with any aspect of human life. Allowing them to express themselves through creative vehicles not only allows us to better understand brain function, it improves the patient's quality of life," he says.

Danae Chambers' cognitive abilities were evaluated at four years, two years before and at the time she was admitted to a long term care facility in Toronto. Dr. Fornazzari monitored how her creativity emerged during the progressive course of the disease, while her other cognitive functions such as attention, working memory, and language ability increasingly deteriorated. The findings of this scientific case study are published in the June issue of European Journal of Neurology.

"Ms. Chambers' case clearly demonstrates that the brain uses separate neural pathways for creative expression compared to neural networks used for speech, memory and attention," says Dr. Fornazzari. "This is of profound importance to further understand and explore why Alzheimer's disease preferentially attacks one neural pathway over the other." 

Dr. Fornazzari strongly advocates that creativity in any of its forms, either visual, musical, literary or performing arts should be actively explored in relation to patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, especially when their other cognitive functions do not allow caregivers and specialists to communicate with sufferers of the disease. This effort to focus on the preserved creative functions, instead of deficits of the patient, will improve their quality of life and is a rewarding way for caregivers to communicate with them.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is a Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization Collaborating Centre and a teaching hospital fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.  

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Dr. Luis Fornazzari, MD, FRCPC, is Clinical Director for the Geriatric Mental Health Program of CAMH and Director of the Multicultural Multilingual Memory Clinic. He received his undergraduate MD training in Chile and is an Assistant Professor with the University of Toronto. He is a member of C5R (Canadian Consortium for Cognitive Research) and a frequent speaker on subjects related to cognition, behaviour and substance/medication misuse.

For an interview with Dr. Fornazzari, to see samples of Ms. Danae Chambers' artwork or for a copy of the case study please contact:

Sylvia Hagopian
CAMH Media Relations Coordinator at (416) 595-6015
Sylvia_Hagopian@camh.net

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