Still Alice Alzheimer's Disease

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 brain slowly starts to diminish in the elderly. According the Maslow, this stage in life is a life review (Berger, 2011). Allie and Noah’s life is in a review throughout the entire movie. Allie is trying to remember what her life was like. Unfortunately, Allie comprehends the story Noah is telling her, but doesn’t realize it is herself. She states in the movie, “this is a great story, the girl seems so amazing” (Cassavetes, 2004). Her lack of ability to remember is due a threat to her development. Allie has Alzheimer’s disease, which is a disease that one cannot remember due to the proliferation of plaques and tangles in the cerebral cortex (Berger, 2011). This disease is common in the elderly. Alzheimer’s has taken over Allies life, as she

Alzheimer’s is a disease in the brain that affects a person’s memory, thinking, and behavior. It is the most common form of dementia and is common in adults older than 65. More than five million Americans are being affected by Alzheimer’s at this moment. Alzheimer’s comes in three stages; early, middle, and advanced. The disease is caused by the shrinking of the brain due to many risk factors and genetics.

The theme of the book is related to the early onset Alzheimer’s disease and how the main character, Alice Howland’s quality of life or in other words her lifestyle is affected due to the disease she is diagnosed with (Genova, 2009). The novel sheds light on the lives of those

In a study that was done called aging, demographics and memory study (ADAMS) it was found that older African Americans are two times more likely than older whites to develop Alzheimer or any other dementia. Some of the reasons that have been discovered as to why older African Americans are more common to have Alzheimer’s is because they are found to have higher rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, along with other vascular diseases. Some other factors that can affect who may end up with Alzheimer’s are lower level of education, and socioeconomic characteristics which are found to be more common in African Americans. In the health and retirement study (HRS) 80% of African Americans were found to have high blood pressure. Other risks that have been found to have increased risk of Alzheimer’s are those with lower educations, low income being below $18,000 a year, and

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

     It is inevitable that eventually each of us will grow old and begin to face more and more health problems as our age rises. Elderly people are challenged by many illnesses and diseases that unfortunately, are incurable. One disease that becomes more common as people age is Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s a common cause and a form of dementia and can severely damage a patient’s cognitive functions and can ultimately cause death. Living with Alzheimer’s disease can be saddening for both the sufferer and the family. Family and friends will find it very hard to cope when a loved one begins slipping away and losing memory of who they are.

Think about the behaviors of the individuals living with Alzheimer’s portrayed in the film. What similarities and differences

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

The film unlike MBY offers an authentic portrayal of the disability which critics have praised Julianne Moore roles as Alice, gaining her Academy award for best actress that year. The narrative of the film was praised, due to accuracy of how the symptoms were shown throughout they film, Moore’s character would often forget things and would need written props to help her remember, the simplistic presentation of the symptoms of the disease were highly praised as they were lifelike. According to film critic Christy Lemire (2014), that ‘Still Alice’ doesn’t shy away from the terrifying disease that can take away a person memories and the ability to communicate to others. He believes the film message matters and the film has the ability to reach over millions of people who are suffering with Alzheimer’s or know of people who are. This argument from Lemire (2014), summaries how independent films do not need to compromise any artistic nor realistic components to tell a heart-breaking story that doesn’t shy away from the story nor the

Seeing this film has helped me to learn to be more alert regarding what early cognitive decline might look like in someone, and therefore, enable me to come alongside them and get some help for them and their family. It also showed the stress involved in early-onset Alzheimer's Disease, especially in regards to job loss, loss of social life, and the fear that comes with living with someone with cognitive loss. However, it also showed the opportunities to show deep compassion and love. The compassion that was shown by the nursing home “tour guide” was amazing. I was impressed by her concern for social engagement in the residents.

First, I will describe Alzheimer's disease it is a progressive condition that damages areas of the brain involved in memory, intelligence, judgment, language and behavior. According to Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and more than five million Americans the ages of sixty and older are living with this disease. In two-thousand and twelve, 15.4 million

As the film unfolded, Alice became open with her family regarding her recent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, fears and struggles. John who was physician, Anna who was a lawyer, Tom who was a medical student and Lydia an aspiring