Originally Published:20020401.
Monash University's Aged Mental Health Research Group is testing a drug-free method for helping sufferers of dementia. The technique involves a close relative of the patient reciting a positive memory into an audiotape. These tapes are played to the patients at times when they are likely to become distressed.
The technique, known as Simulated Presence Therapy, originated in the United States but the only previous study lacked a control group. Monash's results will be the first to demonstrate whether the effect is more positive than when a stranger reads a paper about rhododendrons or plays a patient's favourite music.
Instead, relatives recount an event from the patient's past that is likely to be appreciated, such as a favourite poem, a pleasant experience or a description of their parent's home. Pauses in appropriate places give the patient an opportunity to respond.
"The therapy is based on the belief that the earliest memories of Alzheimer's sufferers are the last ones to fade", said Senior Research Fellow Edwina Beer said. "So we need to activate those memories to have a calming effect. And because of their short-term memory problems, the tape is new every time they hear it."
While the research requires patients who have dementia, but retain intact hearing and some verbal ability, if successful the treatment is potentially beneficial for most of the 5% of those over 65 who suffer from dementia.
Anecdotal evidence suggests the therapy provides considerable benefits, and it has the advantage of being drug-free and undemanding for nursing home staff.
The technique has also been very positive for relatives. "Often relatives feel guilty that they cannot cope with the strange behaviour of a loved one and have to place them in a nursing home", Ms Beer explained. "This therapy empowers the family to be proactive. The response has been phenomenal. It is an intensely personal project as well, because you hear very moving stories from these patients' lives."
Ms Beer adds that although those who knew the patients when they were very young are often dead, it "hasn't been a problem finding appropriate memories. It's surprising the detail that can be brought out."
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