While the search for a cure for dementia continues, there is little we can do for our loved ones, other than make sure they take their prescribed medications on time, and mourn the loss of the minds they once had.

Without a doubt it is sad to witness the deterioration of a mother or father who used to run their home like a tight ship. Immaculate, perhaps, with everything neatly in its place, and according to a decades-old system. A man who used to manage people, a woman who managed whole schools: dementia has been indiscriminate in the past, with who it might attack. Certainly it is upsetting to view the changes in a much loved person as a deterioration, but when the changes are inevitable, and there remains no cure, we might be better off celebrating some of the changes that occur through a more positive filter.

Music. While a person with dementia may start to lose the ability to recall simple procedures and tasks that we all perform without thinking about them, other skills, talents, and abilities become more obvious. The love of music is a primal characteristic, inherent in all humans – if we can find the right music. By finding the right music for your loved one you may well tap into or awaken a part of their brain that will fill them with joy. You can create a connection, open the floodgates of communication, and simply make your loved one feel happy, while they listen to the music they enjoy.

Hand-in-hand with music, comes dance, and as a form of therapy for people with dementia, it can play a critical role in helping to energise both their bodies and their minds. Much research in recent years has highlighted the powerful effect of dance on both preventing dementia from developing in older, at-risk people, and as a therapeutic treatment for those who have already developed the disease. The combination of hearing the music, responding physically to a rhythm, being actively involved in a social group are key factors in improving quality of life for people with dementia.

Dr Arnold Bresky, a preventive gerontologist, uses art therapy to help people with dementia to maintain left and right brain connections. Where connections have been lost, he believes that brain plasticity can be triggered using art. Alzheimer’s Australia has developed publications focussing on the value of art as a means of facilitating expression among people with dementia. In the same way that we are, as humans, wired for music, we are also all capable of visual creativity, given the opportunity. And the results can be amazing. Check out UK-based artist, William Utermohlen’s work, and how it changes with dementia.

Some people just love to talk. Born story-tellers, if you give them enough time they will tell and re-tell the story of their lives. This can become really apparent with dementia. Often, all that’s required is a good listener or the right stimulus and you can be part of an opportunity to step back into the past. Reminiscence therapy creates opportunities for your loved one to relive their glory days, using music, photos, and tactile objects as triggers.

Having dementia need not signal an end to all the fulfilling aspects of the person’s life. It simply means that caregivers have to be more creative in helping them to enjoy the last few years of their life.