Creativity and Memory Loss

Are people with memory loss more creative? It seems many have taken up painting, writing or playing an instrument. Donna Beveridge has taken up all three.

Donna, 65, is a retired elementary school teacher diagnosed last year with early stage probable Alzheimer’s. She lives with her partner Betsey and their two cats, Shadow and Idgy, near the coast of Maine. Her three children and their families live close by.

After her retirement, Donna stayed active in education and in her community. She ran a family literacy program, and started and coordinated a community time bank. She’s cut back on her community work, but her involvement with the arts is growing. She plays African drums, and loves to read and write. Lately she’s been writing poetry and learning to paint with water colors.
This Christmas, she wrote a poem about memory that’s as rich as her life - full of seasons, tastes and smells, and family. [To read her poem, click here Download memoriesdonnabeveridge.doc]

Is she more creative now than before she started having problems with memory and thinking? “Given that it's only six months since diagnosis,” Donna says, “I'm not sure if I'm more creative now. What I do know is that creative expression is even more important to me - whether it's writing, painting, drumming. Each requires me to live in the moment, and isn't that a gift of Alzheimer's? I do that better now.”

So maybe it’s just that art becomes a priority. Or maybe there’s something about memory loss that promotes creativity – there have been reports that frontotemporal dementia, in particular, can enhance artistic talent. We may never know. But if there is an “epidemic” of Alzheimer’s as the baby boomers age, maybe it will be accompanied by a renaissance of the arts.

Comments

[Maya]

My mom has vascular dementia, and she is in her last stage now.She is 79 yrs; old and was diagnosed about 4 yrs; ago. She has been having symptoms of Dementia in her mid sixties eventhough we didn't realize it. She started painting in her sixties (visual arts), and her paintings are unbelievably beautiful.Once she won 1st prize for one of her paintings at an art exibition.What confuses her children and her husband was, her creative talent.She had never done any painting before, and even if she tried to draw a picture it was awfully ugly. But after reading your article now I can understand why she could paint then.She started writing essays(her memory lane)and poems, most of them related to her life, and now she can't even hold a pen.I wish there is some miracle that will help my mom to remember things.

[Gail Rae Hudson]

This piece, and the comment, makes me smile. My mother isn't particularly graphically creative, but as I think about it, her creativity with words, especially oral twists and turns, the ones she means to make (and, she doesn't make any she doesn't mean to make, yet) has increased and is delightful. In this area, she actually keeps me on my toes.
As well, she has lost much of her fear of contemplating the absurd. That's a part of creativity, as well.