KEY QUESTION:HOW CAN PSYCHOLOGY HELP TREAT PEOPLE SUFFERING
FROM DEMENTIA?”
The exam may ask you to “summarise” your Key Question. This means giving some of the infor-
mation below.
THE FEATURES OF DEMENTIA &
ALZHEIMER’S (facts about your Key Is-
sue)
Dementia is an illness that affects 850,000
people in the UK. It is set to rise to 1 million
people by 2025. The most common cause
of dementia is Alzheimer’s. It tends to af-
fect the elderly but there are 40,000 people
under 65 in the UK with dementia.
The common symptoms of dementia in-
clude:
- Loss of memory
- Other cognitive deficits, like difficulty in understanding and confusion
- Depression
- Mood swings
- Exhaustion
- Ultimately, dementia is terminal
DIAGNOSING DEMENTIA
Dementia often creeps up on people because they expect to have memory problems as they get
older so they don’t notice the symptoms until the disease is quite far advanced.
Prof. Bruno at Liverpool Hope University has developed a test to diagnose dementia before the ef-
fects start to show themselves.
- His patients do a word recall test from a list of 15 words.
- Normal memory should recall many of the first 4 words from the list but some patients recalled
words from the middle of the list instead. These patients turned out to be much more likely to de-
velop dementia
COGNITIVE STIMULATION
- This therapy for dementia stimulates the mind. It involves patients getting together in groups to
discuss, play games and solve puzzles. Often the activities are linked to memories, like looking
at old photographs, listening to old songs or using old skills (such as skittles).
- Cognitive Stimulation works best for patients in the mild to moderate stages of dementia. It can
slow down the progress of the disease as well as reduce stress and loneliness.
APPLYING PSYCHOLOGY TO THE KEY QUESTION - AO2
THE FEATURES OF DEMENTIA & ALZHEIMER’S
- Dementia involves loss of memory but sufferers don’t lose all their memories. They often lose
memories of events from in their past. Tulving’s ideas about episodic LTM apply to this. More
recent episodic memories are lost first, but sufferers often keep memories from their youth or
childhood right to the end.
- Semantic memory seems to be lost separately, because sufferers may recognise a friend but
forget their name. Schmolck et al’s study into semantic LTM applies to this, because they found
semantic LTM is stored in a different part of the brain.
- Reconstructive Memory explains why dementia may be lifted when patients hear old songs,
play childhood games or visit familiar-looking places.
- Procedural memory is also affected separately. It may explain the confusion sufferers experi-
ence because they are suddenly unable to do tasks they have taken for granted, like read, tell
the time or use a phone.
DIAGNOSING DEMENTIA
FROM DEMENTIA?”
The exam may ask you to “summarise” your Key Question. This means giving some of the infor-
mation below.
THE FEATURES OF DEMENTIA &
ALZHEIMER’S (facts about your Key Is-
sue)
Dementia is an illness that affects 850,000
people in the UK. It is set to rise to 1 million
people by 2025. The most common cause
of dementia is Alzheimer’s. It tends to af-
fect the elderly but there are 40,000 people
under 65 in the UK with dementia.
The common symptoms of dementia in-
clude:
- Loss of memory
- Other cognitive deficits, like difficulty in understanding and confusion
- Depression
- Mood swings
- Exhaustion
- Ultimately, dementia is terminal
DIAGNOSING DEMENTIA
Dementia often creeps up on people because they expect to have memory problems as they get
older so they don’t notice the symptoms until the disease is quite far advanced.
Prof. Bruno at Liverpool Hope University has developed a test to diagnose dementia before the ef-
fects start to show themselves.
- His patients do a word recall test from a list of 15 words.
- Normal memory should recall many of the first 4 words from the list but some patients recalled
words from the middle of the list instead. These patients turned out to be much more likely to de-
velop dementia
COGNITIVE STIMULATION
- This therapy for dementia stimulates the mind. It involves patients getting together in groups to
discuss, play games and solve puzzles. Often the activities are linked to memories, like looking
at old photographs, listening to old songs or using old skills (such as skittles).
- Cognitive Stimulation works best for patients in the mild to moderate stages of dementia. It can
slow down the progress of the disease as well as reduce stress and loneliness.
APPLYING PSYCHOLOGY TO THE KEY QUESTION - AO2
THE FEATURES OF DEMENTIA & ALZHEIMER’S
- Dementia involves loss of memory but sufferers don’t lose all their memories. They often lose
memories of events from in their past. Tulving’s ideas about episodic LTM apply to this. More
recent episodic memories are lost first, but sufferers often keep memories from their youth or
childhood right to the end.
- Semantic memory seems to be lost separately, because sufferers may recognise a friend but
forget their name. Schmolck et al’s study into semantic LTM applies to this, because they found
semantic LTM is stored in a different part of the brain.
- Reconstructive Memory explains why dementia may be lifted when patients hear old songs,
play childhood games or visit familiar-looking places.
- Procedural memory is also affected separately. It may explain the confusion sufferers experi-
ence because they are suddenly unable to do tasks they have taken for granted, like read, tell
the time or use a phone.
DIAGNOSING DEMENTIA
