Are People Clueless About Recognizing Cognitive Impairment?

Here’s a piece by Pamela Fayerman of the Vancouver Sun that ran on January 4, 2011. It’s titled “Why are men so much more clueless about Alzheimer’s Disease?”

Ms. Fayerman writes about how people do not recognize the signs of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.

I beg to differ with her. I believe she is confusing cluelessness with denial. In fact, here are my posted comments on Ms. Fayerman’s fine piece:

“Thanks for this very useful blog, calling attention to the bewildering disconnect the public seems to enjoy wallowing in. I think the public is not so much clueless as they are in denial. The same “cluelessness” you observe I see on my side of the fence when people are reluctant to talk with me about what would happen if they fell into the 70+% of us who will need long-term care (see “Medicare and You 2011” p. 110: published by the US Department of Health and Human Services).  I will never understand this “cluelessness”/denial. You can give them abundant facts and they seem to rationalize them away. But more often, people refuse my offer to have a conversation about rational, responsible long-term care planning before the event requiring care occurs. I have seen some crazy first-hand examples of denial, where the loved one had flagrant cognitive impairment and the family and loved one refused to admit it, made excuses, or assisted in covering for the loved one. This is why I don’t think the public is clueless. What we are observing is actually denial.

Thanks as well for the reference to Jacqueline Marcell’s book, which I will investigate.”