ABSTRACT

The themes covered in this chapter reflect some of the thoughts and feelings relating to an ongoing deterioration in one’s capabilities and cognition due to the presence of dementia. It is a condition which is largely misunderstood or commonly viewed from a predominantly negative perspective. Diagnosis is prone to being regarded as a ‘hopeless’ scenario with fears and attention predominantly placed upon perceived and experienced difficulties. The nature of problems experienced will be wide ranging and will differ significantly from person to person. The decrease in a person’s cognitive ability impacts across all holistic dimensions with depression, loss, anxiety, isolation, dependence, mobility and communication all featuring strongly. Supportive interventions for people with dementia are very variable, ranging from effective and helpful approaches to those which are depersonalising, fostering of dependency or simply abusive. In order to better contextualise these issues the focus within this chapter is upon the internal experiences of the condition of dementia and the types of support and help available. A point of note restricting the accessing of personal narratives relates to the general decrease in a person’s communicative ability. This can be matched by our decreasing capacity or inclination to understand what a person with dementia might be conveying. This work strives to stay with what is being expressed and acknowledge and appreciate more of the personal journey with dementia.