Writing and Dementia
True confessions time: I’m a fan of mystery novels – most often British. And so naturally my eye is grabbed by a portrait of Dame Agatha Christie in The New York Times Sunday Magazine recently. I was even more drawn by the headline Literary Alzheimer’s. Apparently last March a pair of academic researchers analyzed the text of Christie’s fourteen novels and determined that “Christie’s lexicon dcreased with age, while both the number of vague words she employed and phrases she repeated increased”. Authors Lancashire and Hirst suggest “”the question is not early style versus late style. but the late style of someone who is elderly but healthy versus the late style of someone who is elderly but not cognitively healthy’”. Lancashire and Hirst intend to analyze the work of P.D. James (80+ and healthy) as well as authors such as Ross MacDonald (known to have suffered from dementia).
This is all the more interesting in light of the Nun’s Study and its insights into lanaguage sophistication in youth and the likelihood of developing observable signs of dementia in later life.
A Shame and A Crime
The impeccably-dressed, silver-haired woman said “Ah, that something we seniors fear more than death.” And what is that ? That is dementia. You might have guessed that, seeing that I so often write about Alzheimer’s Disease and other memory-robbing, personality-stripping medical diagnoses. And I am now but in the unusual reflection that is the case of Brooke Astor and her son Anthony Marshall.
I am always trying to find ways to understand humanity’s (okay mine too) fascination with the lives of the rich and the powerful. It is entertaining but sometimes it is also a useful mirror through which we can see ourselves, if we dare look. And in the Astor trail do we dare look?
What might be see? A rich old lady. A rich old man. Whispers of a greedy daughter-in-law. But we also see trust abused – for Mrs. Astor trusted her son, her only son, to take care of her and the court has now found that he cared more for himself than for her. We see the vulnerable abused – for few can be more vulnerable than the elderly who lose their independence of mind, of spirit, of self. It is a shame. And a crime.
Thoughts on the Memory Loss Conference at UNCG
Yesterday spent a roller-coaster of a day at the Living Well with Memory Loss conference sponsored by the dynamically impressive Dr. Linda Buettner at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. It felt a little like trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant: so much energy, enthusiasm and expertise compressed into so little time and space. But worth it!
Noteworthy things that come to mind immediately: the incredible competence and passion with issue has ignited in presenters and audience alike. Almost everyone I heard (in the audience) admitted to having a direct personal connection to this disease and yet a powerful presentation was on the stigma felt by people with dementia and their caregivers; the fact that drug treatments can slow progression and that non-pharmacological treatments do exist and yet most people diagnosed with dementia do learn receive information about complementary therapies at the time of diagnosis. And there’s more…
The Challenges of Early Stage Dementia
The American Society on Aging’s Aging Today might be published bi-monthly but that doesn’t mean I read it as often or as thoroughly as it deserves. Hence I was struck this week by an article on Early Stage Dementia that provokes more questions and challenges than answers and solutions (unfortunately this isn’t an article that is available to non-subscribers on their web-site). The point that hit me is that, as a result of improved science and medical technologies, we can diagnose dementia earlier and there are some medical interventions that reduce symptoms. What hasn’t caught up is the social, the practical, networks to assist people, their families, and caregivers with this burdensome future. The Alzheimer’s Association, the article reckons, is generally ill-equipped to offer assistance, although a few chapters are beginning support and educational programs. But not enough. The painful irony is that people with a diagnosis of early-stage dementia are far more capable that our system is capable. And what an irony that is.
Summer Blockbusters, Creative Aging style
I’m not a fan of most blockbuster movies but somehow summer and movies are inexorably linked in my mind. Beach books too (but I’ll save that for another post!). And so movies were already on my mind when recently several caught my attention.
The first was a few weeks ago in the Washington, D.C. area as I came across the American Film Insitute’s festival, SilverDocs. Three movies were singled out as being particularly worthy of attention in reviews and all three were about the experience of aging! How lucky can we be. As one review was titled : Close-up On the Elderly.
The next reminder about movies and aging in a e-mail when someone I know admitted seeing Away From Her over the weekend. Entertainment can simply be that, entertaining but it is special when entertainment can teach as well as amuse or titillate. Away From Her is just such.
Another recent tap was in my local paper with a notice about a graduate student at a local university whose made a personal story into documentary on living with Alzheimer’s Disease and front lobal dementia. Dear Dad I haven’t been able to see but it is gaining local (and or regional) acclaim. Let’s hope it gets shown nearby, and soon!
A synergistic moment
I know I may pay a bit more attention to Alzheimer’s and dementia than most people but it seems the world may be catching up with me! If the world is defined as central North Carolina, any way. It isn’t just that some recent events in town have spotlighted the perspective of people with dementia (through some of the events in the Center for Creative Aging – North Carolina‘s own Create & Celebrate) but then the local powerhouse research university, UNCG, has announced a conference for later this summer: Living Well with Memory Loss: Finding the Balance. If this isn’t enough to think that dementia is finally getting its due then consider the world of fiction. Not one but two books tackle this difficult subject: Still Alice by Lisa Genova and Samantha Harvey‘s The Wilderness. I rave about Still Alice every chance I get and now I’m eagerly awaiting my experience with Jake, the main character in Harvey’s novel. A recent book review in Books & Culture alerted me to Harvey’s book (thank you David Brooks for introducing me to them through your column!).
Opportunity Extraordinaire
Once in a while an opportunity come around that appears it might refresh the spirit and inspire the heart as well as educate the mind. For me this is The MetLife Foundation Creativity Matters: A Health and Wellness Symposium, Creating Programs for People with Dementia and Their Caregivers. And after a great deal of thought and a bit of last minute planning I’ll be there, for most of it.
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