#in the early stages of dementia

[truecorvid]

my grandma is kind of an unpleasant woman and has become more unpleasant in her old age but i also think that all of her children are like. regularly a little mean to her and kind of hate her. which is also not fun.

[mxwhore]

I am SO close to just saying Fuck It and speedrunning my way to homelessness i swear to god.

[songs-ofa-dyingbird]

Me whenever I see an older character who’s slightly unhinged and has memory issues: omg are you My Father?

[lunarflare64]

I never claimed to be the responsible one in this body *takes a sip of whiskey on a completely empty stomach, having last eaten 11 hours ago and it only being half a bag of chips, no breakfast to speak of*

[raskolnikov-moved]

I honestly really dislike the take that Komaeda's dementia was a misdiagnosis and that he actually has bpd. Komaeda has bpd in my heart but I shouldn't have to explain how lame that is

[spice-ghouls]

Good evening everyone. I am quite drunk

[anti-transphobia]

When all you want is to find solidarity with other people with dementia but all you see is fandom bullshit

[bluepingpong]

I am always in a state of confusion

[butchgodot]

anxiety so bad that i decided to actually do my job for a distraction

[the-rogue-mockingjay]

Maybe I'm just sleep deprived but there's something so sweet and intimate and achingly human about saying things like "I remember those"

Like today I'm on vacation and I brought a silver cross earring to wear, the only one left of a pair my late great-grandmother gave me when I was about seven years old, and when I pointed the earring out to my mom, she thought about it for a second and said "yeah, I remember those now"

My great-grandmother is gone and for all intents and purposes so is her house and many of her worldly belongings, but in this moment I remember her and she lives on in me, in this last precious gift, this tiny little earring that beat the odds and has never been lost in the 12 or so years I've owned it

[xerox-candybar]

Performer: okay, so for this act I will be composing a new state anthem… and to start, I need the name of a corrupt Illinoisan politician

Me: Rod Blagoyavich!

Boyfriend: you shouldn’t have done that. that’s a very hard name to rhyme

Me: but we have him on tape shaking down a childrens hospital.

Boyfriend: well…

Me: and he tried to sell Obama’s Senate on Craigslist

Boyfriend: so exactly half of that sentence is correct

Me: and his 2009 interview on the Huckabee Report was just *chefs kiss*

Boyfriend: that is a weirdly specific experience that I doubt anyone in this room has shared

Me: alright, gloves off, you want corrupt politician? How about Abraham Lincoln

Boyfriend: …you mean like ‘Honest Abe’?

Me: first off, he suspended habeas corpus. second, he censored the press, third, he wasn’t even elected—

Boyfriend: okay, you really should have quit while you were ahead

[tanadrin]

One frustrating aspect of the argument over whether Biden should step aside is that people are confusing dysfluency associated with fatigue (common in people with speech disorders) with sundowning, which is associated with agitation, nervous energy, and confusion. What happened at the debate was not sundowning; if Biden were sundowning, he not only should not be running, he should be removed from office immediately.

I think the vague and incorrect popular understanding of dementia leads people not just to make wrong inferences on limited information, but to kind of hang their ass out making specific, provable claims not in evidence. If Biden was suffering from dementia, he couldn't be hiding it in interviews and when meeting with donors and the public (as he has been doing), and memorizing pre-scripted sound bites certainly wouldn't help him cover for it. When Reagan was suffering from the early stages of cognitive decline, his aides were keeping him away from everybody. Biden is not as active on campaign as some other candidates have been, but he's not sequestered away in the White House, refusing all contact with the press.

"Biden is too old and tired to beat concerns about his age" is a reasonable argument. "Biden has dementia and/or is sundowning" is a) not warranted by evidence, and b) would imply he needs to go right now, not January of next year.

[morbidology]

The last known photograph of Robin Williams, taken just the day before he died.

He passed away on the 11th of August, 2014, at the age of 63. He was found dead in his home in Paradise Cay, California. The cause of death was determined to be suicide by hanging.

In the months leading up to his death, Williams had been struggling with severe depression and anxiety. After his death, it was revealed that he had been diagnosed with early stages of Parkinson's disease, which he had not yet disclosed to the public.

Later, an autopsy report indicated that Williams had Lewy body dementia, a neurodegenerative disorder that can cause severe cognitive and behavioral changes, along with physical symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease.

Lewy body dementia is often misdiagnosed, and it is believed that the combination of his mental health struggles and the debilitating effects of this disorder contributed to his tragic decision to end his life.

Robin Williams left behind a legacy of remarkable performances in film, television and stand up comedy. Generations of children grew up with him on the television, and he touched the world with his humor, warmth and talent.

His death was a profound loss to the entertainment industry and to the many people who admired and loved him.

[marshes-of-bones]

I wasn't going to write a message here but I wanted just to be sure to warn people about my tags because it seems rude not to warn for Real Talk in public but like I want it to be at the top since I hadn't anticipated writing the notes.

UH I accidentally kinda wound up venting in the notes here about a real bummer of an event in my life because this comic brings it to my mind, because of both solidarity and disagreement with Saint's view here (But not in a bad way!)

Also yeah this is all inappropriate stuff to be dumping on someone's post and I'll delete it if OP asks me too absolutely no problem at all, but I dunno, I kinda had an exceedingly rare (I don't give details on this because that's super duper extra bummer stuff) thing happen that is applicable to sentiment in the comic, so I kinda hope my ramble has some degree of... Usefulness? Maybe? In some way? Probably not though, and sorry for making a big deal about it by commenting here and stuff but uuuhhhhhhhh yeah

One last thing to be sure because I usually word things awkwardly, I have been loving this series including this particular one, this one jut has Extra Feelings attached for me. And op I hope it's nice to know that your work has helped me a lot lately.

Hey Saint what do think about those who would rather stay in this world rather then leave it

scratch scratch

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dean Obediallah at The Dean's Report:

No one can deny that Donald Trump has shown a significant level of cognitive decline since he first ran for President in 2015 at the age of 69 years old to where he is today at 78. But what we’ve seen with Trump is far more than normal aging. Trump—as countless mental health experts have stated—is showing symptoms of dementia.  While people can debate if Trump is in the early or mid-stages of severe cognitive decline, what can’t be debated is that this poses a very serious national security issue for our nation. Consequently, this issue demands far more media coverage. On Monday night, I interviewed, psychologist Dr. John Gartner--the founder of “Duty to Warn” –who was first on my show back in April when he was waving red flags about Trump’s mental decline. In April, Gartner noted that Trump “can't get through a rally without committing one of these” tell-tale signs of dementia, such as saying the incorrect word or “combining or mixing up people and generations.”  

He also directed my attention to a petition signed by more than 500 licensed mental health professions—including best-selling authors and well-respected psychologists—warning that Trump was exhibiting signs of dementia. Gartner noted in April that “we're noticing deterioration almost every day” with Trump. Here we are six months later.  After discussing what Dr. Gartner has observed with Trump over the past few months, I asked this simple question: “Does Donald Trump have some form of dementia?” In response, Gartner answered succinctly, “There's absolutely no doubt.” Gartner explained that on his podcast, “Shrinking Trump,” he has welcomed mental health professionals who specialize in dementia—such as from “Duty to Inform”-- and they reached the same conclusion. “We've had neuropsychologists, neuropsychiatrists on the show who have gone through their analysis” and confirmed what they are observing is dementia, Gartner noted. He added, “When you really talk to the experts and the super experts, it's even more apparent,” that Trump’s exhibiting symptoms consistent with this condition.

Dementia is not a term that should be thrown around whimsically to score political points. Dementia—as Dr. Gartner explained—is “brain damage.” He continued that it’s “a deteriorating organic process in the brain where the cognitive processes start to break down.” He added alarmingly that with people like Trump, “they only go in one direction. They keep sliding downhill.” Adding to the credibility of this diagnosis is that dementia runs in the Trump family. As Donald’s own nephew, Fred Trump III, explained on my show recently, Donald’s father, Donald’s older sister, Maryanne and Donald’s cousin, John Walters all had dementia. And as the NY Times reported ten days ago in an article on Trump’s cognitive decline, “Trump has seemed confused, forgetful, incoherent or disconnected from reality lately.”  They added, “He rambles, he repeats himself, he roams from thought to thought — some of them hard to understand, some of them unfinished, some of them factually fantastical.”

Just look at Trump’s conduct in the past week that provides more jarring examples. At an event at the Detroit Economic Club when he was supposed to address economic issues, he literally began to speak of Elon Musk’s missiles landing, “Biden circles” that were “beautiful” but Biden “couldn’t fill them up” to “we’ve been abused by other countries, we’ve been abused by our own politicians”–all in the same incoherent answer.  I played that clip for Dr. Gartner who commented that it makes “you realize how completely lost Trump is.” In addition, Trump while appearing on a podcast last week literally delivered a 12 minute (yes, 12 minute) meandering answer that was so incoherent it caused the hosts to joke that Trump was not rambling, he was “weaving.” One host added that they “don’t even want to know the answer anymore,” they just want more “weaving.” They were humoring Trump who was not making sense.

And at a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday, Trump told the crowd to vote on “January 5”—not November. That of course could simply be a minor mental flub, but what came next was truly bizarre. Trump told the audience that it was time to end the questions and just listen to music. I’m not kidding. The context was that two people had passed out from heat at the event, to which Trump asked, would “anybody else would like to faint?” Trump then declared, “Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music. Let’s make it into a music. Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?”  Then—as the Washington Post reported—"For 39 minutes, Trump swayed, bopped — sometimes stopping to speak — as he turned the event into almost a living-room listening session of his favorite songs from his self-curated rally playlist.”

Yes, Trump stood on stage for nearly 40 minutes at a packed Town Hall where instead of answering questions, he danced. I know it sounds like a Saturday Night Live sketch, but it was real life. If President Biden had done that when he was the nominee, we would’ve seen non-stop coverage exploring his mental state. All of this is why this is truly a national security issue. As Dr. Gartner explained, a person with dementia like Trump could be easily manipulated by “corrupt businessman or any hostile foreign power.” He cited the examples of how devious people have taken advantage of those with dementia to get them to sign a will that makes the person the sole beneficiary. But in the case with Trump, we are potentially talking about Trump agreeing to allow wealthy backers like Elon Musk to financially benefit at our expense. Or worse, allow our enemies to take advantage of him—more than they even did in the past.

Dean Obeidallah succinctly explains that Donald Trump’s dementia is not only a political issue but also a national security issue.

[cry-stars]

Komaeda and Dementia: Part 1 of 5: Introduction and Overview of FTD

Hi everyone!

I’m an aspiring Komaedologist with an interest in dementia. I often see people doubting Komaeda’s stated diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, since it presents differently in him than in the common portrayal of dementia in the media. While his portrayal may not be completely accurate, there is a lot of truth to it, and there are many symptoms visible in-game. I wanted to share a few posts about dementia symptoms that we do see canonically in Komaeda’s portrayals in SDR2 and DR:AE, and share some information regarding his specific diagnosis as opposed to Alzheimers, for example.

I work with people living with dementia as a recreation worker. This means that I see them living their daily lives, and know about difficulties they might have with recreational or day to day activities. There are a lot of observations that I might make that can’t be backed up scientifically yet, but do make sense in a practical way. Everyone with dementia is different, and since I work with seniors for the most part, some observations won’t transfer onto Komaeda. However, I’ll do my best to back up whatever I can with sources.

This post is just for fun and to give people ideas. It means a lot to me to see a fascinating and endearing character like Komaeda portrayed with dementia, since it is a sad and terminal disease, and I usually see it end badly in my job, so I hope to give people ideas on how to portray it, or just to notice things in a different way they might not have before!

My main sources for this post and the following ones include “Dementia Diaries,” which is a really cool project where people with dementia talk about their experiences, National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s Society, and my own work experience. I plan on doing more posts about specific symptoms that we see in Komaeda later, but I would be happy to hear from other people who have dementia knowledge, or to answer any questions that I can.

For the most part, I'm only going to be talking about SDR2 and a little bit of DR:AE. I haven't finished watching the anime yet and have not read any of the manga. If anyone has ideas from any of those sources, I would love to hear about them!

Overview of FTD: Which Variant does Komaeda Have?

There are two major forms of frontotemporal dementia. The first, which Komaeda likely has, is the behavioural variant (BvFTD), which is also the most likely for young people to develop. This variant of FTD mainly affects behaviour, empathy, judgement, and planning.

Komaeda is less likely to have the other variant of FTD, primary progressive aphasia. This form of FTD mainly affects language skills, including speech and comprehension.

Komaeda doesn’t seem to have very much trouble with understanding the concrete content of what people say to him, but he does occasionally seem to have trouble fully comprehending hidden meanings behind statements (for example, taking statements literally rather than as sarcastic). To me though, this is less connected to him not being able to understand the words or content of statements, and more not picking up on the emotions hidden in the statements (which I’ll address more in the behavior post). He does seem to have some trouble with word-finding in the Japanese version of the game, but again, it doesn't inhibit his ability to express himself given enough time to speak.

Another thing to note about FTD is that, in its early stages, it mainly affects behaviour and language processing, as stated above, rather than memory. In later stages, memory does start to be affected as well, but it’s different from Alzheimers (probably the most well-known form of dementia) in that memory loss isn’t the main symptom.

FTD’s prognosis is about 6-8 years. Komaeda states in his fifth free time event that his life expectancy is between half a year and one year. However, he is also referring to his lymphoma diagnosis, meaning he expected to die from a combination of both illnesses within that time frame. In SDR2, Komaeda is probably in the early to middle stages of FTD, since he was diagnosed right before entering Hope’s Peak, and was a Remnant of Despair for some time without treatment, so while we can see evidence of memory issues (which I will address in another post), it’s something he’s able to cope with and isn’t a debilitating symptom yet.

One more observation: while dementia as a whole is usually seen in elderly people, Komaeda’s specific frontotemporal dementia diagnosis has an earlier age of onset, usually between ages 40-65, and is rarely seen in elderly people. Even though being diagnosed in high school seems unlikely, it is not impossible. According to Alzheimer Society Canada, early-onset or young-onset dementia (between ages 18 and 65) accounts for 2-8% of all dementia cases.

Thank you for reading! I plan on making five posts total. The other post topics will be Outward Behaviour, Judgement/Thought Processes, Other Symptoms, and Writing Ideas.