Psychological Issues In Still Alice

His intellectual and emotional functions appeared to be related to the vast majority of other individuals who are inflicted with Alzheimer’s disease. Rose’s abilities, mental and intellectual, gradually declined and he became more confused. Remembering names of his friends were difficult, he was not able to remember most of the things surrounding him. Then his thoughts start to be too chaotic for him to handle, and small conversations start to become complicated. Performing his everyday tasks were challenging for him, as well as finding the correct words to identify simple objects like comb (Rose, 2000). His emotional capacity was affected from all of the changes, and his emotions targeted sadness, fear, and anger, while trying to be positive around his loved ones. He felt that his thoughts and feelings were circling around his mind destroying how thought of himself. Rose was irritated at the thought of not being able to do anything to help himself and to stop his torturous disease. He believed that Alzheimer’s was a disease of pain, in his words he said it was “a thief, a murder and destroyer of minds.” As his disease progressed, Rose felt more comfortable staying at home, where he was loved and understood by his wife Stella. Even though he might have looked healthy in the eyes of others, but eyes can be deceiving and that the general

1) This video was an educational and eye-opening documentary about the infamous Alzheimer’s Disease and its effects on the victim and their family. The film follows several different families, each directly affected by the disease, and how they cope with the loss of their, or a loved one’s, memories and mind. One such family, the Noonans, had a rare form of the disease, where its destruction of the mind began much earlier in life, around age fifty. Three of the Noonan siblings out of ten caught Alzheimer’s and none of the other seven knew whether they had the gene for it or not, passed on by their mother, who also died of this. Watching this unfold in the movie “The Forgetting” was rather eye-opening,

The memoir went exactly how I thought it would be. Bette Ann Markowitz’s situation of taking care of a parent who has Alzheimer is very common; having an aging parent who can no longer fend for themselves. Markowitz is not an only child so she had to constantly consult her sibling on “what is the best option” (Moskowitz41),

‘A retired teacher, Betty (65 years old), was diagnosed with Dementia. She lived at home with her husband Arthur (70 years old) who had been caring for her for several years. When she was diagnosed, No information was given to the couple. They had no relatives that they could rely on around them for support.

Generally people with mental issues are cast aside in society. The mentally impaired are immediately labeled as different. Questions on what to do with these people are common. In literature they are seen being locked into a tower room where they are forced to live their days peeling back the yellow wallpaper. This confines the characters to a world where it's just them and their insanity. These characters are present in many different stories. Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Shakespeare's King Lear are two prime examples of characters suffering from mental disabilities and disorders. Although they are not locked in a tower, the mental illnesses are apparent when studying the Mad Hatter, Alice, King

Alzheimer’s Disease is an irreversible, genetically linked illness. This disease was chosen for the topic of this essay under the consideration that in many families the illness can be incredibly tragic, passing down for generations without mercy. It is not rare to encounter families in which each member is afflicted with a form, mild or severe, of Alzheimer’s. The disease is a progressive brain disease which comes in two separate types: Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease and Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease. These will be discussed in full later on in the paper.

Still Alice (Genova, 2009) is a captivating debut novel about a 50-year-old woman’s sudden decline into early onset Alzheimer’s disease. The book is written by first time author Lisa Genova, who holds a PH.D in neuroscience from Harvard University. She’s also an online columnist for the national Alzheimer’s association. Her other books include Left Neglected and Love Anthony. She lives with her husband and two children in Cape Cod.

This screenplay follows the protagonist Alice Howland, who is a professor of linguistics at Columbia University. Alice Howland is later diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, which turns her world completely upside down; especially given her career and ambitious nature. She becomes unable to perform normal everyday activities, and struggles with the loss of her independence. Alice’s husband, John, who is a physician, attempts to act as a guide for her through this time, but it ultimately puts a strain on their relationship. John’s job offer to move to Boston does not help matters either, and it quickly becomes the last straw for the two of them. He soon moves to New York to take the job after Alice’s memory starts to decay at a faster rate. John and Alice have 3 children, Lydia, Anna, and Tom as well as a son-in-law, Charlie. They are introduced at the beginning of the screenplay, as they all gather to celebrate Alice’s 50th birthday at a restaurant. This is also the time in which the audience notices her decline in normal conversation as she is unable to follow smoothly. Alice could be considered the catalytic hero of this screenplay, and the disease being the antagonist. Alice wants to hold on to as much of her memory that she can, and slow the regression by writing down everything. By Act 3, Alice loses her ability to do activities that she had been doing for many years; such as going out for her morning run without getting lost, remembering words, phrases, and

Based on the children’s literary work written by Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland is a fictional film that was directed by Tim Burton.  The film is set in Wonderland inside of Alice’s dream, so viewers are able to recognize the lack of order and the fantasies of children.  One of the major themes seen in the movie is childhood, specifically the development into adulthood, which is depicted in other characters besides Alice.  Alice, however, is used as the primary symbol for what children in the Victorian Age should not ideally act like, since they were expected to dress properly and attain a certain level of education.  Furthermore, Sigmund Freud’s dream theory and tripartite give further insight into the characters and what they represented during the Victorian Age. The id, ego, and the superego are applied to the unconscious and conscious mind states, and how the unconscious state is still somewhat available during a conscious state.  In Alice in Wonderland, psychoanalysis is used to portray the Red Queen as the id, the Absolem

However, their ways of accepting this disease are pretty different from each other. With Bessie, she stayed positive and welcomed it as she is refusing to have the medication helping her memories. She kept going out and having conversations with people around her. Besides, Fanny was upset for her disease since she could not be able to drive anymore, which in her words is being dependent on her family. The fact is that she could no longer remember the street signs and the way to drive. Joe’s behavior is more positive than Fanny’s. He could be able to use the computer to post his own entries about Alzheimer. He was easy to get lost when he is by himself. Yolanda was diagnosed 6 years ago, so her memory was damaged more. She talked to her reflection from the mirror as a friend she met; her imagination makes she believes that there were some snakes on her lap, and she does not even remember her son’s face though that he has been visiting her almost every weekend.

In the novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the main character, Alice, undergoes quite a change. During the time the novel was published, parts of the world were in the victorian era. The Queen at the time was Queen Victoria, in which the era was named after. During this era, knowledge, class and reason were greatly valued, and stressed. This time period ended in the year of Queen Victoria’s death. Throughout the novel, there are many ways that show how Alice begins to understand the world in adult terms, matures, and grows.

Alzheimer’s disease slowly steals a person’s dignity and erases precious memories. The “Alzheimer’s Disease Guide”, found on WebMD explains that tasks become more difficult to do often leading to confusion and behavior changes. The article further explains the progression of the disease also brings hardship to family and friends (1). To best cope with Alzheimer’s we must better understand the disease.

“Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a slowly progressive disease of the brain that is characterized by impairment of memory and eventually by disturbances in reasoning, planning, language, and perception.” (Howard Crystal) In Health 1000 we were asked to read the book Still Alice. I have never dealt with or have done any study on Alzheimer’s disease before reading this book. After finishing this book it has really opened my eyes to how bad of a disease and how it cripples the mind. I never imagined the effect of this disease on a patient and the patient family. This book is about a upper middle aged lady named Alice who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and how she and her family learn how to deal with disease. One of the things this book

Socioeconomic status is a defining factor in nearly every society around the world. Therefore, it is unsurprising that the issues of class and stratification are manifest in many types of media, including films. Like many nations, the United States operates under the class system. The sociologist Dalton Conley defined the class system as, “an economically based hierarchical system characterized by cohesive, oppositional groups and somewhat loose social mobility” (Conley 249). Still Alice and The Notebook depict social stratification and the struggles between different socioeconomic classes. Still Alice follows the life of Alice Howland, a linguistics professor at Columbia University, as she is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s and fights to retain her memories and relationships. The film is set in modern day America, in which there is a stigma associated with dementia, there is a large degree of gender inequality, and some careers are viewed as prestigious (e.g. doctors and lawyers) while others are condemned by society (e.g. starving artists). The Notebook shares the story of Noah Calhoun as he tries to revive the memories of his wife Allie, who suffers from dementia, by reading her the story of their undying love. While Noah reads to Allie, the movie displays their life in the 1940s. During this time, America was facing World War II, segregation, and a highly stratified society (U.S. Timeline, 1940-1949). When the movie shows elderly Noah and Allie, it takes place in

I saw Still Alice this week. I wanted to see the Glen Campbell movie (which I will watch later) but opted for this one first. What a stirring movie! Watching the progression of her decline, and realizing that she KNEW that she was affected, was very sad. It was heartening to see the support that her family gave her, even while dealing with their own issues. The fact that she was proactive on the front end, in obtaining the diagnostic testing helped her family be better able to understand what was happening and to support her. I love the fact that she and her daughter were able to have a better relationship, and that her daughter was truly able to see her mom, even when her mom had trouble seeing her earlier.