Journal article
History and the Challenges of Dementia
The Hastings Center report, v 55 Suppl 1, pp S41-S47
01 Jul 2025
PMID: 40966410
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Much has been written about the biological, clinical, and epidemiological aspects of dementia. Dire, sometimes apocalyptic social and policy issues have been identified and discussed, and scores of books have been published explaining all of this to a popular audience and providing practical advice for patients and their families. But the vast professional and popular discourse on dementia has largely been ahistorical and uncritical. This essay argues that history can be the basis of a more critically informed discussion of dementia by showing that attitudes and ideas often taken to be natural and inevitable are, in fact, historically contingent, shaped by specific social and cultural circumstances. History can renew a sense of possibility by pointing out that things were not always as they are now, and that they might well be different in the future.Much has been written about the biological, clinical, and epidemiological aspects of dementia. Dire, sometimes apocalyptic social and policy issues have been identified and discussed, and scores of books have been published explaining all of this to a popular audience and providing practical advice for patients and their families. But the vast professional and popular discourse on dementia has largely been ahistorical and uncritical. This essay argues that history can be the basis of a more critically informed discussion of dementia by showing that attitudes and ideas often taken to be natural and inevitable are, in fact, historically contingent, shaped by specific social and cultural circumstances. History can renew a sense of possibility by pointing out that things were not always as they are now, and that they might well be different in the future.
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Details
- Title
- History and the Challenges of Dementia
- Creators
- Jesse F Ballenger
- Publication Details
- The Hastings Center report, v 55 Suppl 1, pp S41-S47
- Publisher
- WILEY
- Number of pages
- 7
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- History; Health Administration; Center for Science, Technology, and Society
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001631681800011
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105016488803
- Other Identifier
- 991022097842204721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Ethics
- Health Care Sciences & Services
- Medical Ethics
- Social Sciences, Biomedical