Soul Keeping in Dementia
What I find intriguing is how the soul-identity of a person living with dementia is incrementally, imperceptibly transferred for safe keeping with loved ones. Personhood is conferred less and less by actual cognitive prowess and character and more and more through social bonds. This type of transcendence is completed when we pass on and leave behind memories, habits, recipes, fishing secrets, jokes and so many other ways of being. Like the imprinted seal on a ceasefire document, meaning continues in perpetuity beyond the physicality of paper, ink and wax. Dementia Friendly Chatter While it is impossible to be heard by everyone in … More
dementia: The human being; the particulars
What is dementia? What are the causes? Alzheimer’s is one of many types of brain diseases which have in common progressive difficulties in brain functioning: memory, judgment, planning. While we can describe dementia under the microscope, how it actually occurs is largely unknown. Scientists study how accelerated aging in dementia is associated with substances (such as amyloid plaques and Tau protein tangles) accumulating within the brain over time. This is not unlike grit building up in engine oil. Healthy brain cells are like live wires that connect to each other indirectly across a gap. Chemical messengers become depleted in dementia making … More
