Non-drug therapies for dementia: an overview of the current situation with regard to proof of effectiveness.

An overview will be presented of music therapy, art therapy, movement therapy and reminiscence therapy, memory training, reality orientation, validation therapy, self-maintenance therapy, behaviour therapy, milieu therapy and staff training. The overview will examine the aims of each, the principles on which procedures are based and the proof of their effectiveness. The principal aim of non-drug therapies is to influence symptomatic dementia beneficially and to improve the abilities remaining to the patient. The potential benefits are usually deduced from studies made without control groups. At the present time, proof of the effectiveness of these therapies is still lacking as controlled, randomized studies have yet to be conducted, and so a fundamental evaluation of the therapeutic benefits of non-drug therapies in the treatment of dementia cannot yet be made. Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel