If you know or care about someone with Alzheimer's disease, you must read Alan Dienstag's article "Forgetting That We Don't Remember*." This article is a gem. Share it with anyone who has the slightest interest in making life better for someone in the early stage of Alzheimer's. (See below.)
Alan Dienstag is a psychologist, and he has intimate knowledge of the cruel nature of Alzheimer's disease. Since 1995, he has offered support groups to individuals suffering from Alzheimer's. In 1996, he was approached by the director of the local Alzheimer's Association chapter. She suggested that he talk to Don DeLillo, a writer of great reputation, who was interested in offering writing as therapy for patients in the early stages of the disease. Dienstag was skeptical, but he agreed to talk to him.
DeLillo was convinced that writing as therapy could make a difference; Dienstag remained unconvinced. But one phrase that DeLillo had shared continued to reverberate in Dienstag's mind: "Writing is a form of memory." Perhaps Dienstag had concentrated for too long on their memory loss, instead of on the memory they still had. Uncertain of the outcome, yet intrigued by the idea, he agreed to collaborate with DeLillo.
They recruited six people from two support groups in New York City, and the Lifelines Writing Group was born. The group's first writing assignment was "I remember. . ." Dienstag writes, "From the outset, I was surprised at the directness and poignancy of the work produced by the group." For instance, 73-year-old Elizabeth wrote: "I remember when I was a little girl sitting under a tree during the eclipse. It got dark and the birds went to bed. . . . I can remember picking a fig from a tree in Athens. My lover watched me in delight."
Dienstag suggests that "People in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease are in danger of forgetting that they can still remember, as are those of us who work with people with Alzheimer's. . . .We should surround people who are forgetting with acts of remembering."
The group met continuously for two years. Participants enjoyed the experience, and were pleased to be part of the group. Occasionally, they had difficulty writing, and Dienstag or DeLillo would have them dictate their words to them. At the end of two years, however, the group had to disband because the members' declining mental and physical abilities left them unable to participate. The last time they met, Dienstag and DeLillo presented the group members with bound copies of their stories with their names on the cover. They smiled, laughed, and cried as they perused the pages of their precious stories.
Perhaps we can learn something from their experiment. It wouldn't take a renowned author and a noted psychologist to encourage a person struggling in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease to write his or her stories. Perhaps we should coax these stories from them, and we will all be enriched in the process.
Here's the link to *"Lessons from the Lifelines Writing Group for People in the Early Stages of Alzheimer's Disease: Forgetting That We Don't Remember" by Alan Dienstag.
Alan Dienstag is a psychologist, and he has intimate knowledge of the cruel nature of Alzheimer's disease. Since 1995, he has offered support groups to individuals suffering from Alzheimer's. In 1996, he was approached by the director of the local Alzheimer's Association chapter. She suggested that he talk to Don DeLillo, a writer of great reputation, who was interested in offering writing as therapy for patients in the early stages of the disease. Dienstag was skeptical, but he agreed to talk to him.
DeLillo was convinced that writing as therapy could make a difference; Dienstag remained unconvinced. But one phrase that DeLillo had shared continued to reverberate in Dienstag's mind: "Writing is a form of memory." Perhaps Dienstag had concentrated for too long on their memory loss, instead of on the memory they still had. Uncertain of the outcome, yet intrigued by the idea, he agreed to collaborate with DeLillo.
They recruited six people from two support groups in New York City, and the Lifelines Writing Group was born. The group's first writing assignment was "I remember. . ." Dienstag writes, "From the outset, I was surprised at the directness and poignancy of the work produced by the group." For instance, 73-year-old Elizabeth wrote: "I remember when I was a little girl sitting under a tree during the eclipse. It got dark and the birds went to bed. . . . I can remember picking a fig from a tree in Athens. My lover watched me in delight."
Dienstag suggests that "People in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease are in danger of forgetting that they can still remember, as are those of us who work with people with Alzheimer's. . . .We should surround people who are forgetting with acts of remembering."
The group met continuously for two years. Participants enjoyed the experience, and were pleased to be part of the group. Occasionally, they had difficulty writing, and Dienstag or DeLillo would have them dictate their words to them. At the end of two years, however, the group had to disband because the members' declining mental and physical abilities left them unable to participate. The last time they met, Dienstag and DeLillo presented the group members with bound copies of their stories with their names on the cover. They smiled, laughed, and cried as they perused the pages of their precious stories.
Perhaps we can learn something from their experiment. It wouldn't take a renowned author and a noted psychologist to encourage a person struggling in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease to write his or her stories. Perhaps we should coax these stories from them, and we will all be enriched in the process.
Here's the link to *"Lessons from the Lifelines Writing Group for People in the Early Stages of Alzheimer's Disease: Forgetting That We Don't Remember" by Alan Dienstag.
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