Overview

Cultural responses to most illnesses differ; dementia is no exception. These responses, together with a society's attitudes toward its elderly population, affect the frequency of dementia-related diagnoses and the nature of treatment. Bringing together essays by nineteen respected scholars, this unique volume approaches the subject from a variety of angles, exploring the historical, psychological, and philosophical implications of dementia. Based on solid ethnographic fieldwork, the essays employ a cross-cultural perspective and focus on questions of age, mind, voice, self, loss, temporality, memory, and affect. Taken together, the essays make four important and interrelated contributions to our understanding of the mental status of the elderly. First, cross-cultural data show the extent to which the aging process, while biologically influenced, is also very much culturally constructed. Second, detailed ethnographic reports raise questions about the behavioral criteria used by health care professionals and laymen for defining the elderly as demented. Third, case studies show how a diagnosis affects a patient's treatment in both clinical and familial settings. Finally, the collection highlights the gap that separates current biological understandings of aging from its cultural meanings. As Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia continue to command an ever-increasing amount of attention in medicine and psychology, this book will be essential reading for anthropologists, social scientists, and health care professionals.

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9780813538020

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A seminal contribution to the field of medical anthropology on an extremely important topic. A useful and interesting volume for undergraduates, graduate students, and medical researchers interested in dementia. - Tanya Luhrmann, Max Paleysky Professor, Committee on Human Development, University of Chicago

Author Information

Annette Leibing is a visiting professor in the department of social studies of medicine at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and professor in the Institute of Psychiatry at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Lawrence Cohen is an associate professor of anthropology and South and Southeast Asian Studies, and director of the Medical Anthropology Program at the University of California, Berkeley.

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