Experiential Approach
The experiential approach to medical anthropology focuses on the psychology of understanding and treating disease. The three types of illness narratives are restitution, chaos, and quest. The restitution narrative details a person with just a temporary illness and their road to recovery. The chaos narrative often describes a person with a chronic disease that will not be cured. The quest narrative describes someone who sees their illness as a journey. They grow emotionally from the experience, whether they will be cured or not. It is the most optimistic outlook for someone with a chronic disease. Unfortunately, because Alzheimer's has no cure, most narratives of people with the disease can be considered chaos narratives. Even if a person diagnosed with the disease is optimistic, often within a few years of suffering from the disease, their families will see significant changes in the behavior and thought processes of their loved one. This person may remain optimistic throughout the degradation of their brain, but it will become increasingly difficult for them to fully understand the effects that the disease is having on their brain.
Narratives of people diagnosed with Alzheimer's often include the help of their families, friends, and caregivers in order to fully explain the extent of the changes that occur in their lives as the disease progresses. The Alzheimer's Association hosts a walk every year in order to raise money to research the disease. Each team dedicated to raising money can submit their narrative to the site detailing how helping a family member or friend through the progression of Alzheimer's disease has affected their lives. Each story is heart-wrenching but interesting and often very positive. I encourage you to look through some of these amazing stories by clicking the link below.
Narratives of people diagnosed with Alzheimer's often include the help of their families, friends, and caregivers in order to fully explain the extent of the changes that occur in their lives as the disease progresses. The Alzheimer's Association hosts a walk every year in order to raise money to research the disease. Each team dedicated to raising money can submit their narrative to the site detailing how helping a family member or friend through the progression of Alzheimer's disease has affected their lives. Each story is heart-wrenching but interesting and often very positive. I encourage you to look through some of these amazing stories by clicking the link below.
Another story that really caught my eye is a PBS special that highlights how several families have dealt with the emotional and physical burden of Alzheimer's disease.
The families in this video are the focus because they have involuntarily become the caregivers to their loved ones suffering from Alzheimer's. The huge burden that this puts on the families adds to the stress that comes with have an irreversible and terminal disease. There is no resolution to this narrative other than accepting the disease or sadly, death. Although medications can slow the process, each day the patients and families of the affected have to deal with the symptoms that come along with the disease.