I listened to both podcasts, but I found Unraveling Bolero to be much more interesting. This podcast talked about two people that were diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia. The first person affected was the Impressionist composer, Ravel, who was famous for his ‘flowery’ music. However, this changed when he composed his well-known piece “Bolero” that was basically just a repetition of the melody. Not a single note changes in his piece, but the orchestration does become more complex at the end. “Bolero” comes back again through Anne Adams. Anne Adams was a biologist who suddenly quit her profession after her son, Alex, was involved in a car accident. After she quit science, she had the great desire to paint, and paint she did. She painted houses, …show more content…
views from microscope, strawberries, patterns, and many more in bright, striking colors. Coincidentally, Anne became obsessed with “Bolero”; it inspired her work “Unraveling Bolero” where she mapped out the symphony by matching colors to a certain note. Her piece, just like Ravel’s showed a distinctive repetition of pattern. Both these victims had “Bolero” as the soundtrack to their madness. About six years after they both respectively finished their pieces, their memories started to deteriorate to the point that they were not even capable of speaking simply. The most mundane things like conversing and eating with cutlery became difficult for them. It handicapped them psychologically. They could not carry on with life normally since their brain did not function correctly as it once did. Frontotemporal Dementia is a disease that deteriorates the frontal lobe that lies around the forehead region.
This disease creates holes that cause this part of the brain to whither and eventually die. This disease mostly affects the left side of the brain that’s in charge of many things such as memory, creativity, and language. Language is one of the most important regions it governs since language is in charge of turning on and off the other circuits of the brain so other regions can be ‘shushed’ so the brain mainly focuses on talking and understanding through language. However, if a person has Frontotemporal Dementia, language is damaged which in turn means the other regions aren’t silenced. Therefore, this leads to an overwhelming sensation to create any forms of art. The feeling is so intense that even people who had no art background become obsessed with art; a total one eighty of their personality takes place. This is what leads to the obsessive repetition that was present in Ravel and Anne Adams. They are obsessed because their basal ganglia have been altered to coexist with the desire to create and create and create repetitively. As chapter 3 mentions, the basal ganglia is what controls voluntary movements. It is often referred to as the “reptile brain” since it is in charge of the normal actions like eat, sleep, excrete, and repeat. However, if it is damaged and mixed with other parts of the brain, it starts to repeat the actions that were not ‘shushed’ since the …show more content…
circuits in the normal neurons around the basal ganglia have been disconnected. Since the disease deteriorates the brain, its functions diminish and become almost useless since it cannot focus on important sensors one at a time anymore. Mirror neurons also become futile since it cannot imitate correct motor and sensory neurons. Also, neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine, decreases as memories becomes forgotten. The disease builds up like “Bolero,” until finally the brain unravels itself. Frontotemporal Dementia might have psychologically implied stress and confusion upon its patients such as Ravel and Anne Adams.
I think it would be hard to transition from having control on your brain to total madness of everything happening at once to the point that you can’t even feel normal. I think the sufferers’ and their family’s life was greatly disrupted by the disease since it stays dormant for such a long time before it becomes active. It seems like one of the worst surprises to get. It is as if the universe pulled the rug under your feet so quickly, you forget where you are. You forget. I think that is the biggest problem for the victims of the disease. To gain some personal perspective on the effects of Frontotemporal Dementia, I played “Bolero” the whole time I typed this essay. I think I’m going mad. I can’t imagine just how difficult it is to have my life turn around so much to the point that I’m obsessed with repetition, and there is no way to escape it. The people with Frontotemporal Dementia cannot turn off their brain’s constant repetitions like I can turn off and stop the music. This shows that having the disease is extremely hard for everyone involved since the sufferer suffers alone, his or her family will never understand what is happening with the mind. The sufferer might even begin to feel depressed, if they even remember how, since they might feel alone with no one who understands them and what they have to do. So far, there is no going back from
this disease. This disease is terrifying to me because it seems so mournful to die without memories. It is as if my existence was never there if I can’t even remember it for myself. “Bolero” might as well be the death march to nothingness.
...ve them of their inspiration and interfere with their creativity. It is a thorny, and relatively new, question, and Jamison merely outlines the controversy without offering an opinion on what should be done to rectify the situation, leaving the door open for further research. Mental illness in artists is a fascinating subject, and Jamison does an excellent job of providing a through portrait of many artists who have grappled with manic-depressive disorder, in addition to exploring how these disorders affect creativity and productivity. Jamison also maintains an awareness of the objections to her attempts to draw a correlation
Terry Pratchett - Living with dementia (Part 2/4). 2008. [Film] Directed by Alzheimer's Society. UK: Alzheimer's Society.
Think about it, an average teen in this world has just been diagnosed with a type of incurable dementia which will forever change his or her life. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is one of the less common forms of dementia. It is when the nerve cells in the frontal lobe die and over time the brain tissue shrinks. Frontotemporal dementia is mostly found in people who are in their teens or twenties. It can affect young people in a very negative way. They start to get aggressive and as the disease gets worse they lose friends and have a difficult time in school and understanding things. Frontotemporal dementia is a rare disease that is on the rise and affects the people of the younger generation.
performance that involves, but is not limited to, a loss in at least 2 of the
People with dementia may be subject to mistreatment and abuse in the community or in care homes and hospitals. Those with dementia can be more vulnerable to abuse as they may find it difficult to discuss their feelings and experiences or remember what happened to them. Dementia can also make it harder to detect abuse.
Alzheimer’s disease, named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer, is a disease that is on the rise in America and the rest of the world. People should learn as much as they want about this disease, because as you age, your chances of becoming an Alzheimer’s Disease, or AD, patient increases. It is estimated that approximately 3 percent of Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 have the illness, and more than half of all people over age 85 have the ailment.
These deficits include: perseveration, which is the inability to make behavioral shifts in attention, movement and attitude, decreased creativity, poor recall of verbal and nonverbal material, difficulty writing, and deficits in comprehension of logical-grammatical constructions (CJ Long 2005). Other effects of extensive lesions: - easily distracted - disturbances in memory - defects in time sense - decreased anxiety - less critical of oneself - difficulty with unfamiliar analogies - impulsivity
Alzheimer’s disease is a complex illness that affects the brain tissue directly and undergoes gradual memory and behavioral changes which makes it difficult to diagnose. It is known to be the most common form of dementia and is irreversible. Over four million older Americans have Alzheimer’s, and that number is expected to triple in the next twenty years as more people live into their eighties and nineties. (Johnson, 1989). There is still no cure for Alzheimer’s but throughout the past few years a lot of progress has been made.
Now my Grandfather is at the last stage called severe stage 3 the worse stage of them all. He does not remember anything at all. You may think that how could you possibly forget everything? Well you can’t but you when you are diagnosed with this fatal disease you either go one way or the other you will lose your short term or you will lose your long term. More often you will lose your short term and work you way back into the past forgetting more and more as the days pass.
...the world. There is no cure for dementia and the other diseases relating to dementia. Dementia is the leading cause of Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer’s Disease is also the most common disease with dementia (Wieregna, Bondi, 2011). Dementia can affect the patient and families in many emotional ways. Knowing that their loved one will be going through many mental disabilities and probably won’t be able to recall some memories can be tragic. Dementia can also affect families financially. The cost for a patient significantly rises every year due to the increase of the population (Hurd, 2013). Dementia can also lead to Parkinson’s and Huntington disease, which can affect the mobility of the patient (Quinn, Busse, Dal Bello-Hass, 2013). Dementia is still one of the most widely diagnosed diseases around the world. Without a cure for it, many more people will be affected.
Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia which is a brain disorder that impairs mental functioning. Dementia attacks the part of the brain which controls memory, language, and thought. It makes everyday tasks like remembering to brushing your teeth, or to pay your bills next to impossible to do, which is why so many people who are diagnosed with this disease are in complete care. This disease has different phases, the first being slight forgetfulness and then the persons emotions may heighten as well as language impairment, violent outbursts, loss of bladder control and from there it keeps getting worse until complete dysfunction of the brain occurs and eventually death, which most of the time is the result of infection.
Alzheimer's Disease Introduction to Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain. It was first described by the German neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915). in 1905. This disease worsens with advancing age, although there is no evidence. that it is caused by the aging process.
Alzheimer's disease is a neurological disorder which kills the brain cells, causing memory loss and cognitive decline. This leads to severe psychological impairments which changes how people think, behave and other complications such as paranoia, disorientation and unprovoked aggression. These psychological impairments reduce people’s functional ability and therefore reduce their quality of life.
...cts of the disorder can be marked positively in the work artists of all fields produce, but devastating results are also a reality. Therefore, we must as a society remember the critical disadvantages of this disorder before focusing on how society as a whole may benefit.
Paramedics are frequently presented with neurological emergencies in the pre-hospital environment. Neurological emergencies include conditions such as, strokes, head or spinal injuries. To ensure the effective management of neurological emergencies an appropriate and timely neurological assessment is essential. Several factors are associated with the effectiveness and appropriateness of neurological assessments within the pre-hospital setting. Some examples include, variable clinical presentations, difficulty undertaking investigations, and the requirement for rapid management and transportation decisions (Lima & Maranhão-Filho, 2012; Middleton et al., 2012; Minardi & Crocco, 2009; Stocchetti et al., 2004; Yanagawa & Miyawaki, 2012). Through a review of current literature, the applicability and transferability of a neurological assessment within the pre-hospital clinical environment is critiqued. Blumenfeld (2010) describes the neurological assessment as an important analytical tool that evaluates the functionality of an individual’s nervous system. Blumenfeld (2010) dissected and evaluated the neurological assessment into six functional components, mental status, cranial nerves, motor exam, reflexes, co-ordination and gait, and a sensory examination.