In the chapter Illness, Society, and History in his book Framing Disease, Charles Rosenberg claimed that “in some ways disease does not exist until we say it does, by perceiving, naming and responding to it” (Rosenberg). Once accepted, these named diseases play a role in a complex network of social negotiations. Does this mean the disease does not exist before it is given a name or, rather, does it mean that a set of symptoms is placed into a new context? In the lines below, I will be exploring the meaning behind Rosenberg’s quote by discussing what the affect of the social construction of Alzheimer’s disease has been in social and familial contexts over the past few decades, as well as how Alzheimer’s was thought of before a diagnosis was …show more content…
In fact, opinions tend to wildly shift over the past few millennia. During the Greco-Roman period, symptoms aligning with Alzheimer’s were considered to be a normal process during aging and was expected. Pythagoras, a Greek physician who lived during the 7th century BC, divided the human life span into five separate stages, the last of which being old age, in which he claimed that “the system returns to the imbecility of the first epoch of infancy” (Feldman). With the rise of the Middle Ages came a decline in the role science played in the social context of Alzheimer’s. The church at the time asserted that “disease was a punishment for sin”, which tied into the witch hunts that were famous during these centuries (Feldman). There was a drastic increase of interest in dementia and Alzheimer’s-like symptoms during the persecution of witches in the fifteenth century, as many victims of witch trials included those with cognitive disorders. “During this period there was little elucidation of the underlying causes of dementia” and the church used witchcraft to explain what they could not (Feldman). Dependent upon the society in which the disease exists, it will be responded to and thought of
She points out facts about different methods of curing human imperfections, such as ageing, impotence and organ failures, and how the idea of ageing has evolved over the years: “old age was so rare in less-developed societies that people who achieved it were granted a certain amount of status and even a mystical cachet. Later, the elderly might have been mocked or isolated, but age was still not seen as an illness. It’s only in recent centuries, as old age has become more and more commonplace, that we have started to venerate youth; ageing is now associated not with fortunate longevity but with decrepitude and disease.” These facts introduce and support the idea that ageing is certainly a problem now compared to earlier in life and is in need of a cure. Zimmerman continues by presenting the effort of others, who are credited, who have put there life work into finding ways to better the effects of ageing, such as the San Quentin prison experiment involving the implanting of executed prisoners’ testis to promote “youth, health and vigour (Zimmerman 2014).”
In unit two, a few sources that have been read discuss an individual’s remission while incorporating their patient narrative to the medical field. This can explain the relationship between narrative and medicine, since individuals have the chance to share their story about their state of remission, and it must be in relation to their progress with their doctor and others in the medical field that had a part in the individual’s remission as well. The idea of remission occurs most bluntly in G. Thomas Couser in “Recovering Bodies: Illness, Disability, and Life Writing.” In this article, Couser explains the concept of “the remission society” (10). In this writing, he discusses the fact that medicine has helped in remission throughout the years, but the medicine itself that gave the life back to the person cannot immediately give their life significant meaning, because that is the individuals responsibility, and sometimes individuals are not completely cured of their illness.
The rhetorical situation Sacks addresses in this book to respond to was his disagreement of how case histories were conducted at the time of publican. His exigence was a response (Bitzer 48) to the mainstream consensus of the impersonal approach that he felt was causing an unrealistic disconnect between the disease and the individual suffering from such illness. The lack of empathy expressed in the
September 21 is World Alzheimer’s Day. Although research and awareness is changing how people treat and care for those dealing with dementia, misconceptions still exist. There are many myths about what dementia is, who gets it, and how it manifests. Myths and misconceptions add to the stigma around memory loss and make us lose touch with the reality patients are dealing with. Dementia is a group of symptoms that affect memory and reasoning.
“Fragments from the Long Game” Rhetorical Analysis Alzheimers causes family and friends to watch as their loved one slowly fades away into the past. This disease causes people to lose the life they are living while they slowly deteriorate into knowing nothing and no one except for their old memories of the past. Kate Carroll De Gutes wrote the essay “Fragments from the Long Game” portraying the view of losing her mother to Alzheimers and how it affected her view on life which is displayed through the format and fluidity of her writing. Periodically throughout this essay, Kate offers themes and experiences in which others can relate to which allows the audience to understand her new view on life and living in the present. Regardless of having
A major contribution of the Golden Age of Greece is the physician Hippocrates disagreed with the belief supernatural spirits were the sole cause of human disease. He shared with Pythagoras that the brain was the center of intelligence and mental disorders were specifically the malfunctioning of the brain. Another contribution to the Golden Ages is that Hippocrates development of psychiatric labels of a pattern of deviant behavior, which the labels included melancholia, mania, and epilepsy. The theory that disease is of the natural and not of the supernatural. The change in belief origin of the disease.
Instead of continuing further down Socrates’ line of questioning like the younger Polemarchus and Thrasymachus, the elderly Cephalus is fine with his rationale not being one hundred percent correct because his religious beliefs provide him with enough psychological comfort. One’s awareness of his mortality increases with his age, creating a huge gap in the world perceptions and values between the elderly and the
In this report I am going to assess ways in which different types of dementia affect an individual and also the individual’s family and friends. Due to the symptoms and consequences of dementia, a major impact on individual is the feeling of insecurity and the loss of confidence in themselves and their abilities. This can increase a sense of loss of control which in turn may result in the individuals doubting themselves and losing trust in their own judgements. These problems are made worse by the reaction of the people around them that are closest to them, such as friends and family and colleagues will begin to respond to them differently and not treat them in the same way as before.
Fisher begins her speech to the Republican party and struggling families by discussing how widespread the struggle of silence is for those infected and her own experiences of being shut out due to her disease through the use of a metaphor. In which she employed a serious tone appealing to the emotions of those affected by the disease when saying “I asked the
Emil Kraepelin was one of the first psychiatrist to popularize the term ‘Dementia Praecox’ in the 1899 edition of Psychiatrie (Dementia). Dementia praecox characterizes as impairment in the cognitive and mental functioning's in attentions, memory and behavior (Dementia). This term continued being of use in the mental health field until psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler renamed dementia praecox with Schizophrenia (Dementia). The term derives from the greek translation ‘to cut/split’(schizo) and mind(phrenia) (Burton). The ‘split’ in schizophrenia refers to the split from reality through disturbed thoughts, actions and emotions.
The poet successfully illustrates the magnitude with which this disease can change its victim’s perspective about things and situations once familiar to
Introduction Alzheimer’s is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and gets worse over time. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events or short memory loss. As the disease advances, symptoms can include difficulty with language, disorientation, mood swing and behavior problems. As a person 's condition progressed, they often withdraw from friends and family. Slowly, bodily functions deteriorated and eventually death occurs.
The term dementia has not been used uniformly in the historical
Late Adulthood is the stage of the human life cycle where an individual nears the end of their life. The life expectancy in the United States has slowly increased over the years therefore allowed many to further analyze the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development during late adulthood. The stage of late adulthood has been emphasized by ageism and the stereotypical "old" person but, will be further educated by the normative development of the life cycle of late adulthood. For the “old” experience dramatic changes in their development as they face loss, death, and illness.
In this model, Leventhal defines disease representations as a person’s perceptions