FLAVOURS, FRAGANCES, EMOTIONS AND ALZHEIMER

One of the most interesting experiences I have had lately was the Meeting on Non-Pharmacological Therapies against the Alzheimers. It took place in Salamanca, at the State Reference Centre (CRE) dedicated to this illness. Experts from around the world attended this meeting and presented a vision of their works. New paths are opening by using the arts – literature, theatre, music etc. – as ways of expression for patients with dementia. They are different forms of therapy from the ones based on language and memory that affect Alzheimer’s patients the most.

One of the lecturers was Richard Taylor, an American psychologist, who holds a PhD. In the year 2001, he was diagnosed with Alzheimers. Richard is tall, white-haired, slow speaking, secure and clear; a charming man who thinks about his illness and keeps a diary, gives lectures and explains his side of what the illness means and “how it feels”. He has published a book, Alzheimer's From the Inside Out, where he recounts, “living with the symptoms of dementia. I am still here, although I have never gone.” He made a plea for us to qualify him, that we re-qualify him and never disqualify him. He wants his voice to be heard, that we provide him with human and social care “because that is the moral thing to do”. He affirms that “we cannot depend only on medicine, still the cure has not arrived” and that “the medical team classifies us as ‘people with dementia’ but all this is very limited. We are there/here, ALWAYS.”

This extraordinary experience made me even more conscious that we are on the right track; that Murcia is leading the way in qualitative research in non-pharmacological therapies. With this “sweet work” we are introducing here, we are “re-qualifying” our patients. We are not merely observing the parts of their brains that are affected by the illness (that of course we treat) but the parts that are not, and these are what we are strengthening. When someone starts to loose the memory, one is left with many more memories. One is left with a rich set of emotional connections that foster all our memories from the time we are born and that shape the enormous richness in our brain, and the self-awareness of every human being.

The Murcia artist and poet, Ramón Gaya, whose centenary anniversary is celebrated this year, stated: “The arts are a carnal thing”. I believe it is true. The arts, in all its manifestations, and gastronomy is one of them, is deeply rooted in our nature. It has become genetic, it is carnal. From the scientific point of view, I assure you that this is marked in our brain and it is an extraordinary tool for therapy, as we are demonstrating in our research.

Carmen Antúnez Almagro

Directress of the Dementia Unit at the University Hospital “Virgen de la Arrixaca”, Murcia