Sunday, January 20, 2013

Trauma Informed Care in Alzheimer's Disease

I am looking for resources, research studies etc that talk about the impact of a life of trauma on a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. Having studied TIC some, I am aware of the way the brain changes due to trauma through life; i.e. things that act as triggers to signal danger go right to the hind brain where emotiion is generated. The person often cannot even remember the trauma but feels fear nontheless. The trigger evokes behavior designed to protect the person from perceived harm. I'm wondering if, since the memory retained to death in Alzheimer's is the emotional memory, would past traumas resurface and change the way Alzheimer's is expressed.
I had one client who had gone through concentration camps in WW II, had seemingly resolved the experience in that it was in its place in his mind but not bothersome. When he got Alzheimer's he became obsessed with the experience, relived it daily, and often saw his wife as a perpetrator of harm.

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