Media Release

26 August 2014

Dementia is Scariest for Baby Boomers But Meaning in Life Can Still be Found

Getting dementia tops the list of fears for older people including baby boomers, says a celebrated world authority on ageing and spirituality.

Yet, paradoxically, ageing is a natural state and it is possible to find meaning in life even in dementia, she says.

Australias 74 year old Rev Prof Elizabeth MacKinlay will be in New Zealand this week for workshops and a conference hosted by The Selwyn Foundation, a New Zealand charitable trust providing residential care, independent living and community services for older kiwis.

The workshops are Spiritual Reminiscence in Dementia, and are designed to help those working in aged care support those with dementia. The workshops encourage professionals to help people with dementia unlock what is important to them, and help them find meaning at the end of their lives.

Without exception, everyone searches for meaning from mid life onwards. I have found the search for meaning is across different ethnic groups and cultures, says Prof MacKinlay. This is the final life career the end of life. Its just as important as anything thats gone before it. The second half of life is spiritual. You ask: why am I here? Whats been the purpose of my life? When were busy doing things, we sometimes put off the task of looking into this question. Suddenly, we may be confronted. Is it too late? The big questions start to emerge. Even in dementia, the search for meaning is there.

One of the key issues for dementia healthcare, she says, is that everything it practises is about measuring and judging. We think of humans as cognitive. We live in a hypercognitive society. Yet the person with dementia still has the ability to be emotional, and to find meaning. Research has shown over the past few years that centres of the brain which deal with emotion are probably not damaged by dementia until very late in the disease, if at all, she says. When you are diagnosed with dementia, you become aware you are being tested all the time. Youre given tests by the healthcare teams. It feels like youre being tripped up. Yet some of this may not be relevant to you as a person. So our workshops teach people caring for those with dementia to help people with dementia connect with their past and bring it into the present. Its a conversation that begins with: whats most important to you? Where do you find purpose in life?

Professor MacKinlay says she was confronted early with the question of lifes meaning, when she was diagnosed with cancer in her thirties. It was a time of deep self examination, a wakeup call. I began to make the journey Im now on.

Continued here:

Dementia is Scariest for Baby Boomers - expert here in NZ