Case Study Takeaway: Dementia

Rachel presented her case study on Allie Calhoun from The Notebook, who has Alzheimer's. I saw the movie a long time ago and didn't really remember it, so I thought it was interesting to hear about the movie from an OT perspective. I liked how she talked about an OT encouraging a client that was recently diagnosed with dementia to journal. In the movie, Allie wrote her story out and told her husband that when she forgets that she wants him to read it to her. While this was just from a movie, our group talked about how this would actually be a great thing for not only the client, but also for the family members to have that to look back on. We also had a good conversation about what Sundowner's Syndrome is, and I thought it was interesting that it seemed like most of us had an experience with an individual with dementia that experienced Sundowner's.
We also talked about how it is important for an OT to help the individual and their loved ones to fully understand the disease and find ways to accept it. In the movie, Allie's husband always held hope that she may remember, and while an OT does not want to give false hope to a client or their family, sometimes hope is the only thing that gets the family through the day, and we shouldn't take that away from them. Overall, the OT is there for the client and it is also extremely important to be there for the family members of those with dementia.