ABSTRACT
In this introduction we provide politico demographic, personal and clinical background to the need for this book. There is currently no cure for dementia. In addition to practical support, understanding of seemingly incomprehensible behaviours or emotions can assist partners, families and professional carers to find a way of communication with the person with dementia. This enables people, both patients and relatives, to feel less lonely and isolated. Psychoanalysis is not only a treatment, it is a disciplined way of thinking about a problem which focusses upon the internal world of the individual in the context of both early and later psycho social experiences. Psychoanalysis is also able to examine the macro environment which influences the way we think and feel about a disease process, which robs us and those we love of their autobiography, their confidence and their ability to think. The authors are clinicians drawn from a variety of disciplines, all of whom have worked with and thought about people with dementia. We have concerned ourselves with factors we believe clouds clear thinking and may inadvertently direct funding and resources away from older people with dementia.
