فرهنگ، نفس و بدن خود: رقص /حرکت درمانی با آمریکایی آسیایی تبار

Over the last 40 years, the widespread acceptance of the biomedical model of dementia has countered the suggestion that senility was an inevitable consequence of old age (Lyman, 1989). Advances in the understanding of the pathology and genetics of dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease, and the search for a biological cause and a biological treatment mean that research in the psychosocial aspects of dementia has been somewhat neglected. More recently, the psychosocial processes affecting the individual with dementia have been better understood Beattie 1984, Kitwood 1990, Kitwood 1993 and Lyman 1989. Beattie (1984) notes that retirement is accompanied by a “loss of mastery over self and environment” as the individual begins to feel less empowered and more dependent and this problem is accentuated by dementia. In addition, disabilities and sensory impairments such as deafness and visual deterioration serve to further disempower the individual and make them feel isolated from what is happening around them. Kitwood 1990 and Kitwood 1993 elegantly describes the “malignant social psychology” affecting people with dementia, whereby others no longer treat them as full individuals. For example, in “outpacing,” others may communicate too fast for the dementia sufferer leaving them feeling perplexed and excluded from the discussion. This leads to loss of self-esteem, a cycle of discouragement and failure and an eroding of the sense of self.