Myth of Alzheimer's

The Real Story on Preventing Alzheimer's and Parkinson's

Peter J. Whitehouse — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:22:12 +0000

New comprehensive, credible review on environmental threats to healthy aging appears. We have been very pleased to work with a distinguished group of very credible clinicians and scientists who have produced a new report entitled "Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging" which supports and builds on our views in The Myth of Alzheimer's. This report, which can be downloaded in its entirety here, offers the most comprehensive review of the currently available research on the lifetime influences of environmental factors on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases that has been published to date.

On our web site The Myth of Alzheimer's see a clip from today's Today Show, which features the report "Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging" that supports our work and features The Intergenerational School. This innovative communty public school started by my wife and me in Cleveland not only provides a well-documented and award winning education for kids but benefits elders with memory challenges as well. People with dementia need the same thing we all need, particulary as we get older, a sense of purpose, communtiy and legacy.

Danny and I strongly encourage anyone interested in brain aging and its environmental determinants to read this excellent report.

Peter Whitehouse

Pleasant Dementia and Buddhism: Oliver Sacks and Peter Whitehouse Comment

Peter J. Whitehouse — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:07:29 +0000

Dementia changes people and changes relationships, sometimes for the better. In the latest edition of Newsweek (September 22, 2008), author Sara Davidson shares her story about her relationship with her mother who became less demanding and more accepting of life as her cognitive impairment progressed, much to the surprise of the family. This is not the first time we've heard the story of a relationship improving with progressive cognitive impairment.

My friend Robert Green is quoted representing the standard view that experts are only interested in negative behaviors. Yet carers such as Ann Davidson, Elinor Fuchs and Judith Levine who have written books (and are in our book) about their experiences know that relationships change in complex ways, some very much for the good.

In Sarah's piece I am described as a practicing Buddhist who wants the world's religions to attend more to the challenges of dementia. Just as they provide perspectives on life and death so too they should attend to the challenges of cognitive aging.

I consider myself an amateur (note the root of that word is "love") Buddhist, not a regular practitioner. I have studied and practiced meditative approaches, for example in Japan and at Naropa University in Colorado – a wonderful place where the spirit of learning is very much alive). Buddhism is both a science of mind and a spiritual practice that recognizes that false expectations and personal desires are at the root of suffering.

As quoted in Newsweek and from my own conversations with him, Oliver Sacks, too, believes that interesting parallels can be drawn between "being present" and emptying the mind in Buddhism and the mental state of dementia. I am not suggesting that enlightenment and dementia are the same, but rather that thinking deeply about their relationships may enlighten our attitudes about the cognitive challenges we all face as human beings who age. Just as fully embracing our mortality makes us appreciate life deeply, can reflecting profoundly on dementia help us recognize our own intellectual limitations as sentient creatures. Can we become more heart-full and wise as a result? Moreover in the daily struggles with cognitive impairment, meditation may be of practical benefit in helping people with dementia address issues of attention and anxiety. Open your own mind and heart to broader and deeper ways of thinking and perhaps your fears and suffering will be alleviated.

www.themythofalzheimers.com

Summer news–the story of Alzheimer’s is changing for good

Peter J. Whitehouse — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:45:16 +0000

This summer was a busy time for global Alzheimer's activities and the changes in thinking are dramatic. I personally presented at international meetings held in Oslo, Chicago and Albuquerque (see photo of poster in Chicago at the International Conference on Alzheimer Disease). In general, I would say some areas of research and policy are rising in credibility and some are falling (although not always in popularity). As my friend Arne Naess, the Norwegian philosopher (who has memory problems but is still wise even beyond his ninety plus years), we must learn to "think like a mountain."

THUMBS UP

Nonamyloid therapies (like tau e.g. Rember and others e.g. Dimebon but data is very early)

Psychosocial interventions (like educational programs such as intergenerational learning)

Nutrition (e.g. Souvenaid) and prevention strategies (like keeping active)

European efforts (broader scope in national strategic plans)

Voice of persons affected by cognitive challenges (often critical of current approaches)

THUMBS DOWN

Amyloid therapies (too many failed late phase studies)

Mild Cognitive Impairment (too variable and being replaced by pre-Alzheimer's as a label)

Biomarkers (too expensive and variable but still attracting funding)

United States efforts (too cure oriented)

Voice of pharmaceutical companies (and some of their stock prices reflect it)

The latest breaking news is of the approval of generic forms of razadyne. This cholinesterase inhibitor was the third one approved in the United States by the FDA. Most experts believe that there is little to choose in terms of efficacy or safety among the three that our currently being used today. Hence the pricing of the generics will critically determine what happens to the price and use of all drugs in this class, and perhaps others as well.

For further information about these trends see themythofalzheimers.com

The Myth of Alzheimer's: Towards a More Integrative Approach

Peter J. Whitehouse — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:03:58 +0000

The loss of memory and other cognitive abilities that occurs with aging is a source of understandable individual and social concern. Although the cognitive frailty of elders has been recorded since the time of the ancient Egyptians, the aging of the human population on our planet has created a challenge both now and for our increasingly fragile future. How we frame aging-associated cognitive challenges in the 21st century will have a profound effect on how older individuals and their families suffer and how we mount appropriate social responses. The dominant model for conceptualizing brain aging is being displayed in Chicago this week at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD). Biological scientists and their pharmaceutical allies want us to find a "cure" for what they consider a singular condition unrelated to aging--namely, so-called Alzheimer's disease.

In this blog, we will explore how and why the 100-year story of Alzheimer's disease has come to have so much influence on our lives, and assert our belief that the story needs to change. We refer to Alzheimer's as a "myth" (And indeed, that is the title of our recently released book The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis (St. Martin's Press, 2008) www.themythofalzheimers.com) because it is persuasive, powerful, faith-based, and largely misguided. The "we" is Peter Whitehouse, a geriatric neurologist, cognitive neuroscientist, and ethicist, who has worked for 25-years in research and clinical care for persons with the condition he used to call "Alzheimer's disease," and Daniel George, a 26-year old expert of narrative, intergenerational learning, and medical anthropology.

Our next several posts will focus on diagnosis/ labeling and treatments/interventions for people with aging associate cognitive challenges.George Bernard Shaw once said that "Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." We certainly appreciate the opportunity to share our thoughts on Psychology Today, and promise that our perspective will challenge the orthodoxy about Alzheimer's disease and replace our fear, pessimism and despair with new story that reflects our shared desire to restore hope and possibility to the aging process.