Gene Cohen Showed Creativity and Aging Go Hand in Hand
Dr. Gene Cohen, who died on Nov. 7, 2009, showed that aging was a time of creativity, not decline.
Gene D. Cohen was ahead of his time. Well before human aging was studied from a psychological or neurological perspective, Dr. Cohen was doing both. He proved that aging was a time of creativity – and not decline – and spent his life writing and teaching about this phenomenon. Gene D. Cohen, MD, PhD, died this past Saturday at age 65; he had prostate cancer.
A geriatric psychiatrist, Dr. Cohen shaped the field of geriatrics, first through his work at the National Institute of Mental Health in the early 1970s. In recent years, he directed the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University. His work there focused mainly on the creative potential of older adults. He also spearheaded a landmark study showing that engagement in arts programs had signficant health benefits for older adults.
His books included The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life
Drawing on both scientific research as well as in-depth interviews with older people, Dr. Cohen showed that positive changes occur as we age. Cohen frequently spoke of late-blooming artists such as Grandma Moses, Picasso, and Georgia O’Keeffe, who reached their creative peak late in life. His research indicated that the older brain produces new cells when challenged, and that the brain can, in fact, draw on areas that were underused decades earlier. To learn more about Dr. Cohen and his groundbreaking work, read a tribute by his son Alex Cohen on the National Center for Creative Aging website.
In future blogs, I’ll be interviewing experts in the field of aging about recent findings related to music and aging. Dr. Cohen was on my list of people to talk to. I had only recently discovered the National Center for Creative Aging and was awestruck by Dr. Cohen’s body of work. I plan on reading ”The Mature Mind,” and will share what I learn here. If you read it, too, we can talk about it in the Forum.
1 comment
Posted 06/02/10 at 12:13 am
[...] Dr. Cohen, who died in 2009, was one of the nation’s leading researchers on the effects that creativity can have on older adults and the aging process. He directed the Center on Aging, Health, and Humanities at George Washington University, where he was a professor of health-care sciences, psychiatry, and behavioral sciences. [...]
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