Dementia Myth

Dr. Peter Whitehouse will transform the way we think about Alzheimer's disease. In this provocative and ground-breaking book he challenges the conventional wisdom about memory loss and cognitive impairment; questions the current treatment for Alzheimer's disease; and provides a new approach to understanding and rethinking everything we thought we knew about brain aging. The Myth of Alzheimer's provides welcome answers to the questions that millions of people diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease – and their families – are eager to know: Is Alzheimer's a disease? What is the difference between a naturally aging brain and an Alzheimer's brain? How effective are the current drugs for AD? Are they worth the money we spend on them? What kind of hope does science really have for the treatment of memory loss? And are there alternative interventions that can keep our aging bodies and minds sharp? What promise does genomic research actually hold? What would a world without Alzheimer's look like, and how do we as individuals and as human communities get there? Backed up by research, full of practical advice and information, and infused with hope, THE MYTH OF ALZHEIMER'S will liberate us from this crippling label, teach us how to best approach memory loss, and explain how to stave off some of the normal effects of aging. Peter J. Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D., one of the best known Alzheimer's experts in the world, specializes in neurology with an interest in geriatrics and cognitive science and a focus on dementia. He is the founder of the University Alzheimer Center (now the University Memory and Aging Center) at University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University where he has held professorships in the neurology, neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, organizational behavior, bioethics, cognitive science, nursing, and history. He is also currently a practicing geriatric neurologist. With his wife, Catherine, he founded The Intergenerational School, an award winning, internationally recognized public school committed to enhancing lifelong cognitive vitality. Daniel George, MSc, is a research collaborator with Dr. Whitehouse at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Medical Anthropology at Oxford University in England. "I don't have a magic bullet to prevent your brain from getting older, and so I don't claim to have the cure for AD; but I do offer a powerful therapy—a new narrative for approaching brain aging that undercuts the destructive myth we tell today. Most of our knowledge and our thinking is organized in story form, and thus stories offer us the chief means of making sense of the present, looking into the future, and planning and creating our lives. New approaches to brain aging require new stories that can move us beyond the myth of Alzheimer's disease and towards improved quality of life for all aging persons in our society. It is in this book that your new story can begin." -Peter Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D.

Theorizes that senility is often socially induced, resulting from a lack of prestige, economic independence, and physical well-being, and looks at alternatives to institutionalization.

The diagnosis, treatment and reporting of dementia is a massive and previously unrecognised scandal. The staggering fact is that most cases of dementia could probably be cured in a week or two. Anyone who says otherwise is either woefully misinformed or a drug company mouthpiece. The author, Dr Vernon Coleman MB ChB DSc FRSA, is a Sunday Times bestselling author and Britain's most successful medical writer. His books have old over two million copies in the UK and been translated into 26 languages. For more details please see www.vernoncoleman.com

The recent publicity about Alzheimer's disease may be relegating many elderly people to a needless senile existence due to the missed diagnosis of their real illness. As a cardiologist and assistant clinical professor at Yale University School of Medicine, Dr. Kra has treated many patients whose senility was reversed through treatment of an underlying problem. He stresses the need for good nutrition, proper medication, and thorough medical examinations for the supposedly senile patient. He urges those who care for the elderly to look for every possible cause for brain failure, not merely accept it as a result of aging. Recommended for most health collections. Robert Schmid, Univ. of Health Sciences/Chicago Medical Sch. LRC, North Chicago -Library Journal.

Have the social safety nets, environmental protections, and policies to redress wealth and income inequality enacted after World War II contributed to declining rates of dementia today—and how do we improve brain health in the future? Winner of the American Book Fest Health: Aging/50+ by the American Book Fest, Living Now Book Award: Mature Living/Aging by the Living Now Book Awards For decades, researchers have chased a pharmaceutical cure for memory loss. But despite the fact that no disease-modifying biotech treatments have emerged, new research suggests that dementia rates have actually declined in the United States and Western Europe over the last decade. Why is this happening? And what does it mean for brain health in the future? In American Dementia, Daniel R. George, PhD, MSc, and Peter J. Whitehouse, MD, PhD, argue that the current decline of dementia may be strongly linked to mid–twentieth century policies that reduced inequality, provided widespread access to education and healthcare, and brought about cleaner air, soil, and water. They also • explain why Alzheimer's disease, an obscure clinical label until the 1970s, is the hallmark illness of our current hyper-capitalist era; • reveal how the soaring inequalities of the twenty-first century—which are sowing poverty, barriers to healthcare and education, loneliness, lack of sleep, stressful life events, environmental exposures, and climate change—are reversing the gains of the twentieth century and damaging our brains; • tackle the ageist tendencies in our culture, which disadvantage both vulnerable youth and elders; • make an evidence-based argument that policies like single-payer healthcare, a living wage, and universal access to free higher education and technical training programs will build collective resilience to dementia; • promote strategies that show how local communities can rise above the disconnection and loneliness that define our present moment and come together to care for our struggling neighbors. Ultimately, American Dementia asserts that actively remembering lessons from the twentieth century which help us become a healthier, wiser, and more compassionate society represents our most powerful intervention for preventing Alzheimer's and protecting human dignity. Exposing the inconvenient truths that confound market-based approaches to memory enhancement as well as broader social organization, the book imagines how we can act as citizens to protect our brains, build the cognitive resilience of younger generations, and rise to the moral challenge of caring for the cognitively frail.

This is Dementia: Disrupting the Decline seeks to dispel the myths surrounding dementia. It invites you to take a journey to explore the misconceptions, stereotypes, and various perspectives surrounding this devastating disorder. This journey is an interactive one that requires you to engage. It asks you to bring, and challenge, your own perspectives and understandings of what dementia is. The reality is that dementia in and of itself is not a disease. At its core, dementia is accelerated aging of the brain. In other words, the brain is on a faster trajectory toward death when compared to the body. This understanding of dementia is important as it opens the possibility of disrupting, even preventing, this trajectory. This is Dementia offers crucial insights into how dementia impacts our brains and its ability to function. It provides information on the early often imperceptible changes, referred to as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), that can begin as early as 30 or 40 years old. It dispels the myths that dementia is an inevitable part of aging and that it is not treatable. It offers five steps -- Awareness, Acceptance, Action, Allowance, and Attitude -- to guide your understanding of dementia and prepare you for your own diagnosis or that of someone close to us. Regardless of if you or a loved one have been diagnosed with dementia or not, This is Dementia provides a road map to empower you to slow, maybe even stop, the seemingly relentless march of this debilitating, "take-everything-from-you" disorder.

Keep your brain young, healthy, and sharp with this science-driven guide to protecting your mind from decline by neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Throughout our life, we look for ways to keep our minds sharp and effortlessly productive. Now, globetrotting neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta offers “the book all of us need, young and old” (Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Code Breaker) with insights from top scientists all over the world, whose cutting-edge research can help you heighten and protect brain function and maintain cognitive health at any age. Keep Sharp debunks common myths about aging and mental decline, explores whether there’s a “best” diet or exercise regimen for the brain, and explains whether it’s healthier to play video games that test memory and processing speed, or to engage in more social interaction. Discover what we can learn from “super-brained” people who are in their eighties and nineties with no signs of slowing down—and whether there are truly any benefits to drugs, supplements, and vitamins. Dr. Gupta also addresses brain disease, particularly Alzheimer’s, answers all your questions about the signs and symptoms, and shows how to ward against it and stay healthy while caring for a partner in cognitive decline. He likewise provides you with a personalized twelve-week program featuring practical strategies to strengthen your brain every day. Keep Sharp is the “must-read owner’s manual” (Arianna Huffington) you’ll need to keep your brain young and healthy regardless of your age!