Art therapy as a comprehensive complementary treatment for Parkinson's disease

Tom Ettinger; Marygrace Berberian; Ikuko Acosta; Alberto Cucca; Andrew Feigin; Danilo Genovese; Travis Pollen; Julianne Rieders; Rohita Kilachand; Clara Gomez; Girija Kaimal; Milton Biagioni; Alessandro Di Rocco; Felice M Ghilardi; John-Ross Rizzo

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2023.1110531

Art therapy as a comprehensive complementary treatment for Parkinson's disease

Front Hum Neurosci. 2023 May 12:17:1110531. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1110531. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Steinhardt Graduate Art Therapy Program, New York University, New York, NY, United States.
² Department of Neurology, The Marlene and Paolo Fresco Institute for Parkinson's and Movement Disorders, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States.
³ Doctoral Program in Neural and Cognitive Neurosciences, Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
⁴ Department of Exercise Science, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
⁵ Creative Arts Therapies, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
⁶ Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra Northwell, New York, NY, United States.
⁷ Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States.

Abstract

Introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease. Complementary and alternative therapies are increasingly utilized to address its complex multisystem symptomatology. Art therapy involves motoric action and visuospatial processing while promoting broad biopsychosocial wellness. The process involves hedonic absorption, which provides an escape from otherwise persistent and cumulative PD symptoms, refreshing internal resources. It involves the expression in nonverbal form of multilayered psychological and somatic phenomena; once these are externalized in a symbolic arts medium, they can be explored, understood, integrated, and reorganized through verbal dialogue, effecting relief and positive change.

Methods: 42 participants with mild to moderate PD were treated with 20 sessions of group art therapy. They were assessed before and after therapy with a novel arts-based instrument developed to match the treatment modality for maximum sensitivity. The House-Tree-Person PD Scale (HTP-PDS) assesses motoric and visuospatial processing-core PD symptoms-as well as cognition (thought and logic), affect/mood, motivation, self (including body-image, self-image, and self- efficacy), interpersonal functioning, creativity, and overall level of functioning. It was hypothesized that art therapy will ameliorate core PD symptoms and that this will correlate with improvements in all other variables.

Results: HTP-PDS scores across all symptoms and variables improved significantly, though causality among variables was indeterminate.

Discussion: Art therapy is a clinically efficacious complementary treatment for PD. Further research is warranted to disentangle causal pathways among the aforementioned variables, and additionally, to isolate and examine the multiple, discrete healing mechanisms believed to operate simultaneously in art therapy.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; art based assessment; art making; art therapy; neurodegenerative disorder.

Grants and funding

This study is supported by The Kellar Family Foundation, United States, Grant ID #C17-00191. The sponsor had no role in the study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, writing of the report and in the decision to submit the article for publication.