EP 163 :: Maintaining Dignity in People Living with Dementia :: Dr. Steven Sabat :: Part 1

We know about the weaknesses of people with dementia, but what about their strengths? Dr. Steven Sabat, professor emeritus in psychology at Georgetown University, reminds us that these people retain awareness, thinking ability, and sense of self. He’s learned that those diagnosed with dementia have more in common with people who don’t than we generally assume; we have to remember the commonalities that we share. It’s a powerful lesson on how to facilitate communication even when one has great difficulty finding the words to speak.

Steven R. Sabat has been at Georgetown University since earning his doctorate at the City University of New York, where he specialized in Neuropsychology. The main focus of his research has been the intact cognitive and social abilities (including aspects of selfhood) of people with Alzheimer’s disease in the moderate to severe stages of the disease, the subjective experience of having the disease, and the ways in which communication between those diagnosed and their caregivers may be enhanced. In addition, his interests include the epistemological basis of our understanding of the effects of brain injury on human beings. He has explored all of these issues in numerous scientific journal articles, in The Experience of Alzheimer’s Disease: Life Through a Tangled Veil (Blackwell, 2001), and in his co-edited book, Dementia: Mind, Meaning, and the Person (Oxford University Press, 2006).

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