Arts Therapies and Progressive Illness is a guide to the use of arts therapies in the treatment of patients with diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. In the last few years arts therapies have been used in an increasingly wide range of applications with new groups of patients, such as patients in palliative care, or with learning disabilities – Diane Waller has been a driving force behind this expansion.This book covers treatment such as art therapy, dance movement therapy and music therapy. In addition to dealing with a wide range of debilitating diseases, it focuses on the issue of the care and treatment of dementia and the effects on patients, carers and staff and the role of the arts therapies in improving the quality of life for the increasing number of patients who will sadly develop this distressing illness.This broadly focused, multi-disciplinary book will be of great interest to arts therapists, arts therapy educators, medical, social work and other staff who are concerned to devise care plans for these patients and their relatives.