(18-10-11) Laughter good medicine for dementia patients: study

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Laughter may be good medicine for elderly dementia patients
-- and best of all, it doesn't have side effects.

Australian humor therapist Jean-Paul Bell was originally a clown doctor
working with sick children, but now he makes the elderly laugh through a
program called Play-Up.

Bell was also the key humor therapist in a Sydney-based study into the impact
of humor therapy on mood, agitation, behavioral disturbances and social
engagement in dementia patients -- a study that showed those who took part
seemed happier.

"The whole idea behind the Play-Up program and what we're doing at the Arts
Health Institute is encouraging them to play more because we believe that
they've got potential to keep playing right until you take your last breath,"
Bell said.

He set up the Arts Health Institute to train aged-care staff in fostering
playful relationships with their patients, particularly those with dementia.

The study, called the SMILE study, took place over three years, involving 36
nursing homes and 400 residents.

Dressed in a bright blue jacket with brass buttons and shoulder tabs, Bell
uses a combination of games, jokes and songs -- accompanying himself on a
ukulele -- to get the elderly to laugh.

In addition to seeming more content, the dementia patients involved in the
study seemed less agitated by 20 percent, said lead researcher Lee-Fay Low at
the University of New South Wales School of Psychiatry, who presents her
findings Thursday at the National Dementia Research Forum in Sydney.

"Twenty percent sounds like a small effect but it's about the same amount, the
same effect as you would get if you gave them an antipsychotic medication --
medication you would use to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder," Low said.

According to the University of New South Wales, dementia rates are expected to
double in Australia to about 450,000, mainly due to an aging population.

About 6.5 percent of people over 65 and 22 percent of people over 85 have
dementia, an umbrella term used to describe up to 60 different conditions
causing similar neurodegenerative changes in the brain.

Best of all, the dementia patients weren't the only ones who benefited from
the study.

"The staff were invigorated, they felt that their jobs were enhanced," said
therapist Joanne Rodrigues.

"They were part of something that they could see the real benefits (of)."


Source: healthyanswers.com

News

---

In evidenza

"L'informazione presente nel sito serve a migliorare, e non a sostituire, il rapporto medico-paziente."

Per coloro che hanno problemi di salute si consiglia di consultare sempre il proprio medico curante.