The Gentleman Vanishes: Dementia, Caretaking and the Life of the Mind

AbstractThis essay recounts the author ’s journey with her father during his prolonged decline due to dementia. The experience pushed her to break out of the confines of conventional scholarly research in her academic field of architectural history to a multi-disciplinary consideration of nineteenth-century environmental, sensory and h orticultural therapies for the mentally ill. During her father’s illness, she discovered the tangible therapeutic benefits of momentary engagements with his environment through his five senses and through the emotional filter of poetry. This reorientation to sensory and poetic experience had a ben eficial impact on the caretaker as well.
Source: Journal of Medical Humanities - Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research