Dementia Reimagined

Publisher's Summary

The cultural and medical history of dementia and Alzheimer's disease by a leading psychiatrist and bioethicist who urges us to turn our focus from cure to care.

Despite being a physician and a bioethicist, Tia Powell wasn't prepared to address the challenges she faced when her grandmother and then her mother were diagnosed with dementia - not to mention confronting the hard truth that her own odds aren't great. In the US, 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 every day; by the time a person reaches 85, their chances of having dementia approach 50 percent. And the truth is, there is no cure, and none coming soon, despite the perpetual promises by pharmaceutical companies that they are just one more expensive study away from a pill. Dr. Powell's goal is to move the conversation away from an exclusive focus on cure to a genuine appreciation of care - what we can do for those who have dementia and how to keep life meaningful and even joyful.

Reimagining Dementia is a moving combination of medicine and memoir, peeling back the untold history of dementia, from the story of Solomon Fuller, a black doctor whose research at the turn of the 20th century anticipated important aspects of what we know about dementia today, to what has been gained and lost with the recent bonanza of funding for Alzheimer's at the expense of other forms of the disease. In demystifying dementia, Dr. Powell helps us understand it with clearer eyes, from the point of view of both physician and caregiver. Ultimately, she wants us all to know that dementia is not only about loss - it's also about the preservation of dignity and hope.

©2019 Tia Powerll (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"Dementia Reimagined is a brave, sobering, and profoundly humane book about one of the most serious challenges we face both as individuals and as a society. As a physician and bioethicist with a family history of dementia herself, Powell excavates the little-known history of the condition, while persuasively arguing that we must supplement our efforts to develop a cure by building an infrastructure of compassionate care to ensure a decent quality of life for our beloved elders and our future selves." (Steve Silberman, New York Times best-selling author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity)

“Dementia is the defining disease of our era. Powell invites us to imagine a brighter way forward. Dementia Reimagined succeeds on many levels - it is informative and insightful, historically illuminating, scientifically accurate, socially savvy and so well written. The result is utterly engaging.” (Ira Byock, MD, author of The Four Things That Matter Most and Dying Well, founder and chief medical director, Institute for Human Caring, Providence St. Joseph Health) 

“In this effective demystification of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, physician and bioethicist Powell reframes two debilitating cognitive disorders.... Throughout this insightful book, the author addresses the issues facing dementia victims and their caregivers with the kind of compassion and dignity everyone deserves at the end of life. A potent hybrid of medical history/journal and memoir.” (Kirkus Reviews)