Vieillir avec la maladie d’Alzheimer et contre elle

fuites, résistances, appropriations

Abstract

Alzheimer disease and related disorders are a major issue in most European countries: should it be considered as part of the ageing process or as a specific disease, more frequent at old age? Today, since there are no medical treatment, professionals resort to non medical treatment and to social care. How are these propositions of treatment considered by the patients and their families? How are the characteristics of ageing used to fight against the disease? The survey presented in this article, based on 65 trajectories of Alzheimer disease, investigates the different ways of dealing with the disease through the appropriation, the denial or the refusal of the diagnosis and of the therapies it implies.