Self-Healing Through Art Intervention for Seniors

An underlying belief of self-healing is that ‘elderlies’, ‘seniors citizens’, or ‘older adults’ have the power and ability to better their own lives.  Art acts as the catalyst and agent which brings out this power.

Background

Seniors in Hong Kong face a challenging life.  The changing pace of urban life over the last few decades has disintegrated the community and social web that was once an everyday reality.  This lack of a support structure has led to poverty, malnourishment and depression often accompanied by loneliness, disorientation and hopelessness.

Families that are unable to care for elders with ailing health at home often house them at day centre or permanent homes.  Even in centres with quality facilities and much needed medical and care assistance, it is very difficult to fulfill the relational and psychological needs.  Without a social life and personal development, seniors experience a very tasteless survival which easily sucks away the joy and will of living.

This lack of hope has also infected family members and carers.  Seeing the deteriorating state of grandparents and elders, the work of caring becomes difficult and visitation becomes odd moments of silences and repetitive conversations.  For those with elders facing dementia, many wonder if the soul still exists within the expressionless face.

A Hopeful Reality

From books, media and personal experiences, we all KNOW seniors who have aged healthily with dignity; and these stories are certainly not isolated cases.

The late Dr. Gene Cohen, director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University, through his 30 years of aging research, found that ‘older adults’ brains continue to grow and mature through life.  Combining branches of science from neuroscience to psychology, Dr. Cohen found that the mature brain is more prone to positive than negative emotions, and is better at turning knowledge and experience into wisdom.  From the countless cases he observed, seniors are capable of new creativity and mental challenges that continues to renewal their later life.  What enables such a fruitful aging process?

The Sweet Tonic Singers is an active senior Australian choir, holding steady rehearsals and performances.  In 2008, Dr. Elaine Lally studied the health of its singers between age 51 and 83.  Over the 30 weeks, the participants (except for 1) reported better awareness, walking, less use of medication and less trips to the doctors.  The participants reported being happier and socially more active.  These improvements correlated with improved singing skills, breathing and vocal control.  The physical and psychological improvements resulted in a clear sense of confidence that was felt by the audience at the sold out concert.

What do ‘Older Adults’ need?

Is it simply shelter, nutritious food or physical exercises that keep the aging body going? 

Though these are often considered to be basic human drive, what really drive us are the things that give life hope, joy and meaning.  Renowned psychologist Csikszentmihalyi, in his monumental study of human happiness, found that human civilizations can survive the harshest environments because they have found meaning for existence.  They tell stories, sing songs, made artwork, and found challenges to keep their survival spirit alive.

In a recent aging research of art’s impact on senior health, Art for All artist and chairperson Evelyna Liang, engaged the seniors in telling farming stories by incorporating physical exercises that mimic motions of rain, river and harvesting.  Instead of the mechanical repetition often reflected on the seniors’ reluctant faces during physiotherapy sessions, this narrative exercise brought laughter and more sharing of personal stories over a full body exercise.

This was also observed in Art for All’s Grandpa Grandma Memory Boxes (GGMB).  The food drawing activity brought back seniors’ love of food.  Vegetables of various colours were chosen for looking, touching and smelling before the painting began.  The activity brought out memories, stories and recipes, and exercised eyes, hands and multiple levels of mental processes.

Art and Self-Healing

Whether it is painting, music, dance or drama, Art provides an intricate set of motivations that is self-generating.

Art…..is personal

…It is related to daily lives

…is collaborative and relational

…requires physical and mental exertion

…challenges physical strength and control

…challenges problem solving and creativity

…welcomes emotional expression and contemplation

…is meaningful

…is beautiful

…is fun

A)   Physical and Mental Engagement

Art awakens the body and mind, down to our deepest being.  The simple fun of doing art drives one to continue.  As observed from GGMB or other senior art programmes, art provides the reason and means to stay mentally and physically healthy.  It is only a matter of time before the senior and the carer recognize the physical and mental benefits described above.  Though physical benefits may only slower decline for some, many elderly expresses pride in regaining some physical and mental control.

B)   Social Engagement

The format of community art workshops such as GGMB promotes group work.  Socialization begins with seeing, being and chatting with others in the same activities.  The fun and challenge of doing art provides a common experience to talk about, engaging both the seniors and the carers.

C)   Emotions, Ideas and Memories

The creativeness and expressiveness of art making invites emotions, ideas and memories.  While the misconception is that only young people are creative, Dr. Cohen explained that an older adult’s creativity is grounded in life long experiences.  A children musical organized by Art for All in Henan involved 2 elderly musicians, who grasped the essence of the stories and improvised wonderful musical background with ease.  Not only does the content provoke emotions, ideas and memories, the touch of vegetables and human hands, the sound of a familiar instrument and song, the deep orange of a yam, all provoke personal expression.  These thoughts can be cherished, or revisited within a supportive environment for psychological closure.

D)   Striving for Beauty

The strive for beauty contrasts greatly with the everyday existence in senior homes.  In GGMB, the artists prepared painting canvases for the seniors to draw their own clothing.  The beautiful clothing used in the photography session brought out personal confidence and character.  Dignity is restored through the beautiful artworks and their strive for personal beauty.

Facilitation of Self-Healing

The above descriptions only touch the surface of the power of art to promote self-healing.  They converge during a group art workshop in intricate ways to form the satisfying experience of projects like GGMB; friendship feeding into teamwork, teamwork feeding into artistry, and shared beauty feeding back into shared experience.

The role of Art Facilitator is to create an environment where this can happen freely.  There are guidelines and rules for such a group setting, but the most important is trust.  In addition to trust among the participants, the Art Facilitator, helpers and carers must trust in the participant’s self-healing capacity, using art activities to slowly draw it out until it becomes self-generating.

Hope for Everyone

This hope was given through the seniors.  The artists’ work was to draw out their self-healing capacity.  The artworks and activities gave everyone a talking point with the seniors, reminding us that they are capable individuals.  Carers involved were glad for the seniors, transforming the often work-strained relationship.  Family members rediscover their elders’ dignity, and often hears interesting stories for the first time.  And at a deeper level, the younger generations can witness the dignity and maturity of aging.