THE IDENTITY BEYOND LOSS MEMORIES: THE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

Abstract

The autobiographical memory allows us to keep the traces of our past, putting them in a precise time and space to be used in the future. Therefore, it allows to build, to keep and to re-build our identity in the past, present and future. The Alzheimer’s Disease is a degenerative cerebral disease, characterized by a deficiency of all memories and consequently also of the autobiographical one, leading to the loss of the Self-identity. However, while the cognitive aspect is diminishing, the affective and the emotional ones and the thought are still alive. Respect, consideration and empathic listening of the inner world, together with some therapeutic Adlerian strategies, can protect the identity of the patient affected by Alzheimer’s dementia