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The struggle of apathy in dementia

Dening, Tom; Baber, Waqaar; Chang, Marybeth; Yates, Jen

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Authors

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TOM DENING TOM.DENING@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Clinical Professor in Dementia Research

Waqaar Baber

Marybeth Chang

JEN YATES Jen.Yates@nottingham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor in Mental Health



Abstract

Most people will recognise a sense of apathy within them, at some point during their lives, and this may present to a greater or lesser extent depending on the individual and the context. When people are asked about what apathy is, what it means, or how it might feel, generally they can provide an insight, suggesting it is something broadly universal to the human experience. We might consider apathy to be a lack of motivation, a feeling of not being bothered, or a desire to do something coupled completely with a desire not to do that same thing. For most people though, apathy can be overcome, and it represents a fleeting problem that does not impact on day-to-day life. For people with dementia, apathy is an important problem because it is recognised anecdotally, clinically and in research to be common (Selbaek et al., 2013; Zhao et al., 2016), persistent (van der Linde et al., 2017), and difficult to live with for both the person with dementia and those close to them (Feast et al., 2016). Follow-up studies suggest that apathy is associated with worse health and social outcomes (Breitve et al., 2018).

Citation

Dening, T., Baber, W., Chang, M., & Yates, J. (2022). The struggle of apathy in dementia. Aging and Mental Health, 26(10), 1909-1911. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2021.2008309

Journal Article Type Editorial
Acceptance Date Nov 14, 2021
Online Publication Date Dec 1, 2021
Publication Date 2022
Deposit Date Jan 30, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Aging and Mental Health
Print ISSN 1360-7863
Electronic ISSN 1364-6915
Publisher Informa UK Limited
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 26
Issue 10
Pages 1909-1911
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2021.2008309
Keywords Psychiatry and Mental health; Geriatrics and Gerontology; Gerontology; Phychiatric Mental Health
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7354351
Publisher URL https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13607863.2021.2008309
Additional Information This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Aging and Mental Health on 1.12.21, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13607863.2021.2008309