Through the Eyes of the Individuals

: Perspectives of those with Alzeimers

written by Silvia Yoo    Jan 5th, 2025

        Mental health disease has stroked and affected many individuals and families living in the United States. Dementia is one disease that almost any senior is prone to be subject to. With 6.7 million citizens ages 65 and older currently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and the populations as well as the risk of it only increasing, it would be important to consider some changes .(National Library of Medicine: 2023 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36918389. Accessed 1/5/2025) 

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Conflict : Internal / External 

       Alzheimer’s disease is capable of affecting any individual, only differing in forms and feeling. Personally, the disease suggested a new perspective on mental illnesses and the people living with them, ultimately impacting my life. Alzheimer’s disease indirectly yet explicitly changed my way of communicating with the seniors. Starting in the summer of 2022, the transforming visits to a local nursing home began, first starting with my twin sister and I, playing the piano. At that age, going to the rehabilitation center was a time consisting of slight dread and repulse. Encounters with the residents were awkward, neither the AD individual nor the performer knowing what to do. Suddenly, a wave of piano students from our music group began to step into the nursing home, all older than I was. Internally, I was fairly grateful for the presence of the other performers, expecting the uncomfortable silence of everyone to swiftly fade away. However, the room remained uneasy, the muted sound being encouragement to interaction. As the visits increased, the nursing home group, now referred to as the Connection Sphere, introduced crafts to accompany our music, as well as more conversation with the residents. All humans have a fear, most being of the unknown, but as we were trying to explore the residents, they were as well. Using the suggested concept as a key motive, I enhanced speech with the residents, hoping that they would feel as if they were more comfortable. After personally coming to a realization on that theory, and when the notion was accepted, eyes were opened to Alzheimer’s and other illnesses, and it had positively shifted perspective on the individuals living with it, the ultimate outcome being the better acceptance and understanding of the patients.

        Physical therapy is a great way to promote health, protect against mental disorders, and reduce addiction. While physical therapy isn’t a sure-fire way to prevent mental disorders, it can be a protective measure against them. It was concluded in The causal relationships of device-measured physical activity with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in adults: a 2-Sample mendelian randomization study that physical therapy can be a protective measure against bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Multiple researchers with Phds found, “Individuals who exercised had 1·49 (43·2%) fewer days of poor mental health in the past month than individuals who did not exercise but were otherwise matched for several physical and sociodemographic characteristics” (Chekroud S. et al., 2018). Unlike with mental disorders, mental health is proven to be improved through physical activity. There are various examples of physical therapy being helpful for people.
        It is obvious that physical therapy is useful; however, the problem with physical therapy is access. Most disabled or older communities don’t have the money to tap into physical therapy. Statista, a well known and reliable data source, states that disabled people have an increased poverty rate of by 13% compared to regular people. Many sources, such as the California Department of Housing and Community Development, state/show that poverty and disability are correlated. While the issue of poverty in old-age communities is getting better, it still isn’t at the greatest condition, “According to ACL’s profile, in 2020, 55.7 million people in the U.S. were over the age of 65 and represented 17% of the population. Five million people aged 65 and older lived below the poverty level. At least 2.6 million were classified as “near poor,” (Stevens Y., 2023). Both of these sources point towards the fact that these communities don’t have the resources to rely on physical therapy.  

        In conclusion, physical therapy can be a great way to help the less able/older communities whether it be their mental health or their risk against mental diseases. However the cost of physical therapy can be a general deterrent to these people, the solution to this problem is through encouragement. If we take a part of the price tag of physical therapy through the volunteering of abled people, we can help bring positive and protective measures for the community.

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To Control, Not avoid, the Anxiety of the Brain

       From direct experience with individuals of Alzheimer’s disease, much can be learned from the encounters with the residents. One of the major boundaries between seniors living in nursing homes and rehabilitation centers and typical civilians is communication. While breakouts of patients and dramatic episodes cannot be avoided, they can be controlled, whereas communication can be avoided, but may go out of control. In order for aggression and anger to be maintained in minimized condition, communication should be utilized, and the right type for the scenario. When interacting with Alzheimer seniors, communication should be adjusted to fit the needs of the elderly, not oneself. When no adjustments are made, and the conversation is in poor condition, caregivers may grow frustrated, resulting in blame to the AD individual, instead of striving to seek the true, underlying conflict. “...It is a bad thing to bite into hard fruit with little teeth. You will say bad things about the fruit when the problem is your teeth”(Williams-Garcia, P.S Be Eleven, p.p143, HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2013). In these scenarios, the primary cause may be the seniors failing to understand the words being said to them, yet the cause may be how the words are being delivered, or the message. In one of our visits to St. Joseph Rehabilitation Center, I was personally assigned to a particular resident’s table, along with another student. What was significantly different about the senior was her way of talking. Her speech seemed unfamiliar, yet some words could be clearly understood. There was a realization later that the resident, Maria, (M) only spoke and understood Spanish. In honesty, the group was not too diverse in other languages, yet a resolution would have to come. A quicker and efficient solution had come to hand, using Google Translate to transfer her speech and ours for understanding. We had come to fruition. In the process of making the crafts, (M) remained quiet, only communicating when we asked for her artistic choices. When it was time to go, the resident unexpectedly kissed and hugged her volunteers, showing appreciation for the commitment. Not only did the senior feel gratitude to the language adjustment, she understood it as well, showing that Alzheimer patients are capable of communicating with any individual, as long as they understood in their own way what was about to be performed. To understand in their own way, communication would have to suit them, and then minimized aggression would be possible. Many individuals are reluctant to approach a senior with Alzheimer’s, hesitant on if they will witness a dramatic episode from the other individual However, if not attempting to communicate, or change the way the senior may be understanding them, the individual or the communication itself would be the “little teeth” of the seniors, or the “hard fruit.”

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       All humans have a tendency to avoid their fears, in dementia cases, solely ignoring the AD individual , when it is the disease itself that is mysterious. However, what others may not be aware of are the fears of the seniors themselves. In the early stages of dementia, individuals are in the majority still living in their typical condition. However, as the frontal lobe of the brain is damaged, where memory and thoughts are developed and stored, the recipient would also have a fear of losing it all. Fear may easily turn to anxiety, and anxiety may be perceived as aggressive. Caregivers or family members of an Ad individual would then avoid the senior, due to their fear of the unknown, eventually leading to loneliness and depression of the particular. There is a constant cycle of loss, anxiety, and depression, for dementia individuals. The Connection Sphere would be exemplary in aiding seniors to exit the cycle. In order to refrain a constant circle from repeating, one fundamental contribution must be removed. While the primary cause of depression in Alzheimer recipients may not be avoided, loss in memory and thought, and the outcome is the conclusion of the scenario, anxiety is able to be reduced in many terms. The majority of those living with dementia enjoy company from others, due to their anxiety and fear. However, may their cause of company be avoided by giving them company? The Connection Sphere demonstrates the act of it, and how interacting with the residents may break the cycle of depression, spreading awareness on the ongoing conflict, and the solutions to it.

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