Dementia and prescribed disengagement
RIS ID
107647
Abstract
Following a diagnosis of dementia, most health care professionals, including neurologists, geriatricians, physicians, general practitioners, and dementia service providers prescribe giving up a pre-diagnosis life and put all the planning in place for the demise of the person newly diagnosed with dementia such as wills, powers of guardianship and other end of life issues. I was told 'to give up work, give up study, and to go home and live for the time I had left'. By 2009, I had termed this Prescribed Dis-engagementTM, and I ultimately chose to ignore it. One has to ask the question: Why is it that one day I was studying a tertiary degree, working full time, volunteering, raising a family and running a household with my husband, and the next day, told to give it all up, to give up life as I knew it, and start 'living' for the time I had left? This Prescribed Dis-engagementTM sets up a chain reaction of defeat and fear, which negatively impacts a person's ability to be positive, resilient and proactive.
Publication Details
Swaffer, K. (2015). Dementia and prescribed disengagement. Dementia: the international journal of social research and practice, 14 (1), 3-6.