Rethinking Dementia

Written by a Palliative Care Physician this book argues that dementia affects and involves not only individuals with a dementia diagnosis but the networks of people close to and/or caring for that individual. The book encourages us to consider dementia not as the condition of an isolated individual but as a process of change within a social and relational system. Dementia challenges deeply held values of autonomy, individualism, independence, consistency and ideas of personhood. Rather than focus on the question of a cure for dementia, Chapman investigates how it is possible for networks of people to understand and learn from the changes that the arrival of dementia in their midst bring about. Chapman gives important historical, social, medical and philosophical context to the medicalised view of dementia that prevails today. He shows that dementia has had and can have many meanings and can provide many opportunties for rethinking deeply held assumptions. The book is written for a wide public and will be an important resource for those who belong to the networks of family and carers who work with people directly touched by dementia and for dementia sufferers themselves.