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9780801882760 Add to Cart Academic Inspection Copy

Self, Senility, and Alzheimer's Disease in Modern America:

A History
  • ISBN-13: 9780801882760
  • Publisher: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
    Imprint: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
  • By Jesse F. Ballenger
  • Price: AUD $111.00
  • Stock: 0 in stock
  • Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
  • Local release date: 14/05/2006
  • Format: Hardback 256 pages Weight: 0g
  • Categories: Care of the elderly [JKSG]
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Historian Jesse F. Ballenger traces the emergence of senility as a cultural category from the late nineteenth century to the 1980s, a period in which Alzheimer's disease became increasingly associated with the terrifying prospect of losing one's self. Changes in American society and culture have complicated the notion of selfhood, Ballenger finds. No longer an ascribed status, selfhood must be carefully and willfully constructed. Thus, losing one's ability to sustain a coherent self-narrative is considered one of life's most dreadful losses. As Ballenger writes ''senility haunts the landscape of the self-made man.'' Stereotypes of senility and Alzheimer's disease are related to anxiety about the coherence, stability, and agency of the self—stereotypes that are transforming perceptions of old age in modern America. Drawing on scientific, clinical, policy, and popular discourses on aging and dementia, Ballenger explores early twentieth-century concepts of aging and the emergence of gerontology to understand and distinguish normal aging from disease. In addition, he examines American psychiatry's approaches to the treatment of senility and scientific attempts to understand the brain pathology of dementia.Ballenger's work contributes to our understanding of the emergence and significance of dementia as a major health issue.

PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. The Stereotype of Senility in Late-Nineteenth-Century America2. Beyond the Characteristic Plaques and Tangles3. From Senility to Successful Aging4. The Renaissance of Pathology5. The Health Politics of Anguish6. The Preservation of Selfhood in the Culture of DementiaNotesIndex

""Ballenger has written a persuasive account of a complicated subject, confronting the problem of dementia compassionately but unflinchingly... His writing is clear, graceful, and unburdened by jargon. This book deserves to be widely read by both historians and people dealing directly with dementia, including health care providers and family members.""

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