Alzheimer's

Interesting piece in this Sunday's Observer on an alternative Alzheimer's disease therapy -- one that eschews ineffective drugs, recognises the individual's inability to form new memories, and instead concentrates on maximising their sense of well-being by drawing on their happy (and still accessible) memories of the past. There's an organisation called Specal in Burford, Oxfordshire, that promotes this approach.

As someone who's seen people become increasingly frustrated by a relative's inability to remember new things/recent conversations, I can see the attraction of this kind of approach. There's something here about acceptance, about letting go, and about letting the person enjoy their past in the present.