Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Alzheimer's Disease: What can we learn about memory? -October 19th, 2011

                 Alzheimer's Disease is the most common form of dementia, a serious brain disorder that impacts the patient's live daily through memory loss and cognitive changes. Right now 16 million people worldwide have this form of dementia. Symptoms of Alzheimer's worsen over time, progressing from mild forgetfulness to loss of self, mind and almost all of the patient's abilities because they forget how to use them. This disease starts in the hippocampus, the area of memory, and is caused by starchy tangles in the brain neurological system.
              The video for me was insightful because the students got a taste of the life of a family member of a victim of Alzheimer's Disease, which was honestly disheartening. The family must literally watch their loved one turn crazy and lose their mind, and cannot do anything about it. It was a great way to show the students that the patient loses their personality almost entirely, and what are you if you don't have your personality? It's also very different experience when you read about a certain disease in a textbook and watch the disease and how it affects the people around the patient on video. In a textbook, you just read it to read it, on video you can relate to the emotions the family, and patient are feeling. You feel sympathy and this as we learned today in class causes you to remember more of what you learned. In one sentence I can describe my own feelings on this disease. It's a monster. A monster that deprives you of your family, true emotions, interests, hobbies, friends, thoughts, skills, and finally your life. 

http://helpguide.org/elder/alzheimers_disease_symptoms_stages.htm

No comments:

Post a Comment