Bringing together philosophers and psychiatrists, this book explores the conceptual issues raised by this common illness. Examining the nature of personal identity in dementia, it also shows how the lives and selfhood of people with dementia can be enhanced by attention to their psychosocial and spiritual environment.

With a rapidly expanding elderly population, there has been a marked increase in the incidence of dementia, and this dreadful, debilitating illness now affects - directly or indirectly - millions of people across the world. Dementia throws up a number of particular clinical, ethical, and conceptual problems, which mostly reflect complicated evaluative decisions, for instance about diagnosis and the distinction between normal and abnormal ageing. Different disciplines approach dementia in different ways - thus there are disease, cognitive neuropsychology, and social constructivist models of...

With more people in the world living into older age, Alzheimer's and other Dementias: The Facts takes a comprehensive look at the spread of dementia, and provides authoritative information and practical advice for sufferers, their families, and the medical professionals who care for them. Written by a consultant in old age psychiatry, the book provides an overview of all the different types of dementia (including younger-onset dementias), from the most-recognized - Alzheimer's - to the less-frequent types, such as those caused by inherited metabolic disorders or HIV. The book guides the...