Rementia
It is a term coined by Tom Kitwood around 1996 to describe how persons with dementia can show improvement in functioning. This often occurs when excess disability is removed by changing from a toxic social environment to one which supports competencies which remain in persons with dementia, and/or by finding ways to circumvent disabilities using remaining strengths.
The older view was that there can only be a one-way journey, from the left to the right. Now, however, as a richer body of evidence becomes available…that view is no longer tenable. Some people undergo a degree of ‘rementing’, and reacquire capacities for meaning-giving that had, apparently, been lost. Also, as more is learned about how to give psychotherapeutic help to people with dementia, it is becoming clear that some can actually acquire new forms of ‘feeling language’, and it may be possible to work through some of the experiences of pain and ‘relax into’ cognitive impairment.—Tom Kitwood, “Dementia Reconsidered”
Rementia then comes about by exceeding basic survival needs. Independence and free will are honored. If we lose faith in people with brain conditions, the chances of rementia are slim. Further, use of this term challenges the assumptions of therapeutic nihilism that once a diagnosis of dementia is given the person so diagnosed is on a downward spiral and can never improve or learn new things.
A recent cochrane review of 9 trials showed cognitive stimulation within a social setting made a significant difference and improvement in the lives of those with dementia. A paper in 2013 showed regular exercise improves brain activity more than drug treatment We have a gym and a swimming pool even those with fairly advanced dementia can use these and the FINGER (Finnish Geriatric Intervention ) study supports this ( presented at the Alzheimers conference last year and published on the internet earlier this year) An article in the BMJ on dementia in April this year agreed.
We know regular exercise helps form new pathways in the brain and there is evidence that diet high in Vit Bs & fish oils also help.
by Micha Shalev
