Scrapbooking provides several benefits to those with dementia who engaged in it, including helping to jog memories, improve mood and increase self-esteem.
Nancy Monson is the Monson is the author of 鈥淐raft to Heal: Soothing Your Soul with Sewing, Painting, and Other Pastimes,鈥 a look at how creative arts, like crafting and scrapbooking can be therapeutic.
Scrapbooking provides several benefits to those with dementia who engaged in it, including helping to jog memories, improve mood and increase self-esteem.
Nancy Monson said she wishes she had sat down and learned more about her mother before she developed dementia near the end of her life.
鈥淚 really wish I had asked her more questions,鈥 said Monson. 鈥淚f you have an opportunity when someone is ill, or frail or has dementia, you should start asking them questions about your family history and to get a more rounded view of who they were as a person.鈥
A mixed-media artist and health coach, Monson is the author of 鈥淐raft to Heal: Soothing Your Soul with Sewing, Painting, and Other Pastimes,鈥 a look at how creative arts, like crafting and scrapbooking can be therapeutic 鈥 both for those providing care and those receiving it.
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鈥淥ne of the most powerful things that has been identified is that it distracts both the caregiver and the recipient from their present reality, which is really powerful,鈥 said Monson. 鈥淲ith caregiving, you are so involved with the day-to-day activities, of taking them to the doctors and other appointments, so caregivers and care receivers may both be feeling stressed.
Nancy Monson is the Monson is the author of 鈥淐raft to Heal: Soothing Your Soul with Sewing, Painting, and Other Pastimes,鈥 a look at how creative arts, like crafting and scrapbooking can be therapeutic.
Nancy Monson
鈥淧eople are worried about their symptoms, their doctor calling, but focusing on an activity like scrapbooking helps you get away from all that anxiety for a little while.鈥
Besides reducing stress and anxiety, she said the other benefits can include increasing self-esteem, helping to boost moods and allowing you an opportunity it examine your inner feelings.
鈥淚 have always been interested in this interface between therapeutic benefits and creativity,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 started as a quilter in my twenties when was going through a divorce, and the quilting really helped me to push through and figure out my emotions.鈥
Monson said scrapbooking can be especially helpful for people who are caring for those with dementia since it can help jog memories. In her book, she writes that it also has the ability to transport both the caregiver and recipient to a different place away from routine concerns.
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鈥淪crapbooking also allows you to view the person you鈥檙e caring for in a new way: By hearing the stories behind the pictures and mementoes you comb through as you craft, you have the opportunity to see your loved one not as the physically frail person he or she has become, but as the vibrant person he once was,鈥 writes Monson.
In her book, she also points to experience of former “Entertainment Tonight” TV host Leeza Gibbons, who started scrapbooking after her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Gibbons wrote on her website, , that she and her mother, “We would sit for hours and pour through her memory boxes and photos getting girlishly giddy over tickets to a dance with a young boyfriend, and misty-eyed at the sight of her firstborn, my brother. She couldn’t quite remember which of the three kids it was, but love is love and once you’ve felt it and given it away, that never leaves you.”
Rather than directly asking the person you are caring for if they are interested in creating a scrapbook, Monson recommends you start by showing them an old photograph or object and asking them about it.
鈥淭hat can be a really wonderful way to connect,鈥 she said. 鈥淛ust introduce it and say, 鈥極h, would you tell me about this photograph,鈥 and you can kind of gage whether they are interested in pursuing that. A lot of time people who are not feeling well or have dementia, may not engage or initiate.
鈥淎sking, 鈥楧o you want to do this?鈥 may not get you to the place you want to go to, so instead it may be better if you talk about photographs or an event important to that person, like 鈥極h, tell me about your wedding鈥 or, 鈥楾ell me about when your baby was born.鈥
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From there, she said, you can purchase a scrapbooking kit from an art supply store and begin working together on a project, collecting memories and stories about their life and placing it in the book together.
鈥淪o now you have this physical object that is really amazing and serves as a memento,鈥 she said. 聽鈥淵ou can see it five years down the road, and it will give you warm feelings. It may give you sad feelings or bittersweet feelings, but also warm because you spent your time with that person and got to know them better.鈥
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