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| View Larger Image | The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis
by Peter J. Whitehouse, Daniel George
| | List Price: | $25.95 | | Price: | $17.13 | | You Save: | $8.82 (34%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 203412 | | Studio: | St. Martin's Press | | | Binding: | Hardcover | | Number Of Pages: | 319 | | Publication Date: | January 08, 2008 | | Publisher: | St. Martin's Press |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Dr. Peter Whitehouse will transform the way we think about Alzheimer’s disease. In this provocative and ground-breaking book he challenges the conventional wisdom about memory loss and cognitive impairment; questions the current treatment for Alzheimer’s disease; and provides a new approach to understanding and rethinking everything we thought we knew about brain aging.
The Myth of Alzheimer’s provides welcome answers to the questions that millions of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease – and their families – are eager to know:
Is Alzheimer’s a disease?
What is the difference between a naturally aging brain and an Alzheimer’s brain?
How effective are the current drugs for AD? Are they worth the money we spend on them?
What kind of hope does science really have for the treatment of memory loss? And are there alternative interventions that can keep our aging bodies and minds sharp?
What promise does genomic research actually hold?
What would a world without Alzheimer’s look like, and how do we as individuals and as human communities get there?
Backed up by research, full of practical advice and information, and infused with hope, THE MYTH OF ALZHEIMER’S will liberate us from this crippling label, teach us how to best approach memory loss, and explain how to stave off some of the normal effects of aging.
Peter J. Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D., one of the best known Alzheimer’s experts in the world, specializes in neurology with an interest in geriatrics and cognitive science and a focus on dementia. He is the founder of the University Alzheimer Center (now the University Memory and Aging Center) at University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University where he has held professorships in the neurology, neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, organizational behavior, bioethics, cognitive science, nursing, and history. He is also currently a practicing geriatric neurologist. With his wife, Catherine, he founded The Intergenerational School, an award winning, internationally recognized public school committed to enhancing lifelong cognitive vitality.
Daniel George, MSc, is a research collaborator with Dr. Whitehouse at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Medical Anthropology at Oxford University in England.
“I don’t have a magic bullet to prevent your brain from getting older, and so I don’t claim to have the cure for AD; but I do offer a powerful therapy—a new narrative for approaching brain aging that undercuts the destructive myth we tell today. Most of our knowledge and our thinking is organized in story form, and thus stories offer us the chief means of making sense of the present, looking into the future, and planning and creating our lives. New approaches to brain aging require new stories that can move us beyond the myth of Alzheimer’s disease and towards improved quality of life for all aging persons in our society. It is in this book that your new story can begin." -Peter Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 7 reviews)
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Not what I was looking for, exactly 
Although this book has a lot of interesting information, it's basically just a book about his theory about Alzheimer's, what causes it, and how to avoid getting it if you don't have it yet. There's also some discussion of nutrition, etc. While I don't necessarily disagree with him (his theory makes a lot of sense) it's not really all that I wanted to see in the book. I would have appreciated a chapter or two at first detailing basic information about Alzheimer's, what is believed about it, how it progresses, what can be expected as it progresses and any helpful ideas about dealing with it. My mother has just been diagnosed and I'd like some ideas about what to expect and what is actually going on in her body, as well as why she does some of the things she does. I haven't quite finished the book, but I haven't found any of that yet. And I found endless discussion about his theory a little tedious. It basically comes down to what you're looking for. Someday when I have time (my mother lives with me and keeps me busy now) I might enjoy this book a bit more. But right now, I really wanted a lot more help dealing with and understanding Alzheimer's, not theories about what causes it.
August 24, 2008 | |
You'll Never Look at Alzheimer's the Same Again! 
Call it political correctness. Call it academic pressure. Call it whatever you wish, but understand that there is pressure, both subtle and overt, to follow only the conventional medical model where Alzheimer's is concerned. This model decrees that cure in the form of a pill or other medical device is the only solution to the problems of the aging brain. Huge amounts of money flow to that end.
In The Myth of Alzheimer's, authors Whitehouse and George ask you to understand that:
· what we are routinely told is not the whole truth about Alzheimer's disease,
· there is no universal agreement on the cause or cure for the symptoms of Alzheimer's in brain or behavior, and
· a billion-dollar industry relies on the perpetuation of the myth of Alzheimer's.
Heresy, pure and simple.
If the author were less well educated or experienced, we could burn him at the stake or, at the very least, denigrate his notions as those of a far-out kook. But as it is, we must regard his observations as having some degree of credibility.
Whitehouse and George devote a chapter to the billion-dollar industry that has grown up around Alzheimer's disease, especially to those associations and foundations that have benefited richly from contributions.
Of course, it's not only associations and foundations that focus so little on assistance and prevention and so much on a "cure" that has failed to materialize. Governmental bodies and pharmaceutical companies currently operate big budgets to fund hundreds of studies searching for the "cure" or symptom amelioration. Of those only about two percent focus on prevention.
The Myth of Alzheimer's is the right book at the right time. More and more people are turning away from conventional medicine, partly because its cost has skyrocketed, partly because its "promises" have failed to materialize or damaged those who trusted it. The ideas this book presents will help both the aging and their caregivers gain maximum comfort at minimal cost and reduced risk.
This is a uniquely important book. Read it. Learn about the theories of causation. Learn how your approach affects sufferers. Allow it to open your mind to new ways of thinking about and dealing with the syndrome known as Alzheimer's disease.
Thank you, Dr. Whitehouse, for presenting an extraordinary alternate view that encourages people to take responsibility for their own aging, their own health.
March 01, 2008 | |
Myth of AD helped my family
I'm only in college but I've been a part-time caregiver for my great aunt since October and this book was really inspiring to my mom and I when we read it a couple weeks ago. We never say that my aunt has a "disease", and this validated our belief that she is a regular person who is still capable of having some quality of life in spite of the changes that she is undergoing. We look at old pictures together, and she still gets a lot of pleasure from doing simple things like that (the book suggests a few activities you can do). All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who is caregiving for someone, and really anyone else who is interested because there's a lot of information and a fresh new perspective here that I believe will really catch on if people give it a chance.
February 19, 2008 | |
A new approach to understanding Alzheimer's disease and dementia
Dr. Peter Whitehouse confirmed what I thought about Alzheimer's disease. In his provocative book, his thinking about memory loss and cognitive impairment agrees with mine. I concur that people need to be resposible for their brain health. The author describes ways for people to maintain their brain function. His strstegies are practical and easy to do. Read this book so you can keep your brain "alive" and free from Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. If you know someone who has dementia, read this book to help them slow the decline of their disease.
by Susan Berg author of Adorable Photographs of Our Baby: Meaningful, Mind Stimulating Activities and More for the Memory Challenged, Their Loved Ones, and Involved Professionals
February 02, 2008 | |
Experts comment on The Myth of Alzheimers
"In less than 25 years, Alzheimer disease evolved from being a rare cause of early onset dementia to a disorder feared by almost every adult. The Myth of Alzheimer's is a thought provoking book that raises important questions about later life cognitive decline and Alzheimer disease. I highly recommend it."
-Peter V. Rabins, M.D., MPH, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, co-author of The 36-Hour Day
"Alzheimer's strikes fear into the American psyche. Whitehouse and George carefully and thoughtfully offer a way to empower ourselves and walk through that fear. The Myth of Alzheimer's is deliberately provocative, carefully researched, and lovingly rendered."
-Anne Basting, Director, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Center on Age & Community, author of Forget Memory
"A landmark book. If we read Peter Whitehouse thoughtfully, we'll never see Alzheimer's the same way again. Agree or disagree, he has changed the way we need to think about a critical problem in our time."
-Harry R. Moody, Director of Academic Affairs, AARP
"Finally, from a highly respected, vastly experienced scientist and philosopher, a sane, humane, practical, nonmedical, politically informed-- in other words, revolutionary -- way to understand and live with our aging brains. What a relief! What a treasure!"
-Judith Levine, author of Do You Remember Me?: A Father, a Daughter, and a Search for the Self
"The Myth of Alzheimer's helps emancipate us from the pernicious stigma of a condition whose namesake was reluctant to call a disease and from the shackles of pharmaceutical dependency and media distortion; simultaneously, it provides a welcome proactive approach to aging, illuminates and celebrates the priceless value of our interdependency as human beings, and explicates the positive role that healers can play. Policy makers, physicians, researchers, lay people, must read this book."
- Steven R. Sabat, The Experience of Alzheimer's Disease: Life Through a Tangled Veil
"Dr. Peter Whitehouse has challenged the current labeling of Alzheimer's disease in his new book, The Myth of Alzheimer's. With wisdom, honed through years of research and practice, Dr. Whitehouse opens the door to normal aging. He offers the reader clues to maintain a quality of life as we age. In addition, Dr. Whitehouse brings years of clinical experience presenting ways to reduce the burnout of the caregiver. Dr. Whitehouse has integrated medical research with practice, guiding the reader towards a wise old age."
-Naomi Feil, executive director, the Validation Training Institute, Inc.
"The Myth of Alzheimer's is an arresting and eminently readable book in which an acclaimed neurologist with 30 years' clinical experience systematically sets out the many scientific uncertainties associated with our understanding of the condition, including the validity of the diagnosis itself. Peter Whitehouse argues that Alzheimer's should be reconceptualized as intrinsic to human aging with emphasis given to prevention and thoughtful, humane care. His position is one that forces each of us into a realistic recognition of the complexity with which we are confronted. This courageous, thoughtful book demands immediate attention.
-Margaret Lock, Author of Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and the Reinvention of Death
"Complicated, unyielding, major problems need and deserve periodic reevaluation in how we perceive them, define them, treat them, and study them. This is just what Peter Whitehouse along with Daniel George have meticulously done with what most people understand as Alzheimer's Disease, in their authoritative, provocative, and compelling new book, The Myth of Alzheimer's. This book is of enormous relevance to persons concerned about and struggling with significant changes in cognitive functioning, as well as to family members, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, community program planners, and policy makers."
- Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., author of The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain
"Get ready for the fireworks. Peter Whitehouse has fired a shot into the midst of what he calls the Alzheimer's empire - the vast network of people and organizations that collect hundreds of millions in research funds and make billions selling drugs for treating a disease that does not exist. Whitehouse brings to his topic a level of humanism that is reminiscent of Oliver Sacks' writings about patients with cognitive differences from the so-called norm."
- David B. Wolfe, author of Ageless Marketing and co-author of Firms of Endearment
"Peter Whitehouse is very well known in Japan and around the world as a caring clinician and pioneering researcher. In Japan the government and experts have changed the words for dementia (from chi ho to ninchi sho) because we are aware of the negative effects of stigmatizing labels."
- Akira Homma, Chief of Psychiatry, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology and Founder of Japanese Society for Dementia Care
"This book presents a unique perspective on dementia. Peter Whitehouse combines decades of experience as a leading clinician and researcher in the Alzheimer's field with a sophisticated understanding of what history, anthropology, ethics and spirituality have to say about medicine, health, aging and dementia. With Daniel George, he has produced not only a penetrating critique of the concept of Alzheimer's disease and the medical industrial complex that created it and benefits from it, but a book full of profound and practical wisdom to all who are struggling to meet the cosmic and quotidian challenges of dementia."
- Jesse F. Ballenger, Ph.D, author of Self, Senility, and Alzheimer's Disease in Modern America
"Bold, provocative and compassionate. Peter Whitehouse tells the fascinating story of Alzheimer's, and then drafts a new version: embracing the challenge of living with our changing brains, and focusing hope on community, kindness and humanistic care.
This book surely would have helped our family."
-Ann Davidson, author of Alzheimer's: A Love Story and A Curious Kind of Widow
"With an impressive fusion of scientific data and humanistic vision Peter Whitehouse and Danny George successfully challenge the dominant conception of Alzheimer's disease. Arguing that an AD diagnosis is "scientifically unsound and socially disruptive," they reframe the way we think, speak and act toward our aging brains and help us imagine a better future for ourselves and our communities."
-Cathy Greenblat PhD, Sociologist and photographer, author of Alive with Alzheimer's
"Dr. Peter Whitehouse tackles with courageous candor current myths about "Alzheimer's disease" and offers an alternate, realistic and holistic approach to healthy and dignified aging."
-Vladimir Hachinski, MD, FRCPC, DSc Distinguished University Professor University of Western Ontario University Hospital
`This book tells the story of a remarkable journey. Peter Whitehouse describes and interprets the history and meaning of Alzheimer's for our time and in doing so he makes a personal journey as a successful scientist and researcher to question and reappraise his own vales and the meaning of his work."
-Harry Cayton, Chief Executive, Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence,
Former Chief Executive, Alzheimer's Society UK
January 25, 2008 | |
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