Just about everything you think you know about Alzheimer’s disease
and other dementias is wrong. And because the conventional wisdom is so
off-track, so are the ways we—both family members and
professionals—respond to those with dementia.
That’s Dr. G. Allen Power’s provocative message. He wants us to stop
thinking that people with dementia are victims of a terrible
debilitating disease that destroys their memory and perception. Instead,
Power argues, dementia is “a shift in the way a person experiences the
world.”
In his new book Dementia Beyond Disease, Power argues that
people with dementia are not psychotic or delusional. Rather, they see
the world differently than others. Power’s goal is not to treat a
disease. It is to improve the well-being of those who have it. And
unlike drug therapies, which have been high-cost failures, Power
identifies dozens of ways that may enhance the lives of those with
dementia.
It is hard to overstate how radical this is. It turns the worldview
of much of the Alzheimer’s establishment completely on its head. And it
attempts to reframe how family caregivers (Power calls them
partners) respond to their loved ones.
Weiter auf:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2014/12/29/a-provocative-new-way-to-think-about-dementia/
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