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Public Representation of Social and Ethical Issues in Frontotemporal Dementia

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Living with Dementia

Part of the book series: Advances in Neuroethics ((AIN))

Abstract

Dementia, and especially frontotemporal dementia, reverses many of the rights that are enjoyed by most individuals in liberal societies. The increasing deficits in cognition and decision-making lead to a legitimate reduction in autonomy. The widespread fear of dementia, which may be fueled by the media, leads to social exclusion and stigmatization of those living with dementia and their families, contributing to significant mental health burdens. This chapter aims to construct a clear understanding of the English language print media representation of: (a) frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in general, (b) the effects it has on persons affected by the disease and their caregivers, and (c) criminal or socially inappropriate behavior associated with the disease. Using specific formal search terms, we retrieved a sample of 137 articles from the Nexis Uni database to identify the media representations of FTD and explore the social discourses of labeling persons as “demented.” Fifty-eight articles portrayed persons living with dementia with negative moralizing metaphors, and 30 articles mention stigmatized behavior in relation to the disease. Stigma towards FTD is a growing problem that can only be solved with a proper assessment of the conditions of health-care delivery and social inclusion that enable persons with dementia to pursue dignified lives. Although resources can limit the care that societies can reasonably provide to such persons, they do not limit the available knowledge and respect that can be offered to people with FTD.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In what follows, we draw and expand on Dubljević [10].

  2. 2.

    As people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) also exhibit failures of socio-moral judgment and commit crimes, Dubljević is not arguing for establishing a diversion court specifically for FTD, rather he presumes that most of the cases will be from the FTD population, specifically because criminal behavior is recurrent in FTD. For instance, a Swedish study reported instances of criminal behavior in 14.9% of AD patients and 42% of FTD patients, whereas the criminal behavior was recurrent in 56.4% of AD patients and 89% of FTD patients. See Liljegren [33].

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank members of the Neuro-Computational Ethics Research Group at NC State University for their valuable feedback (in alphabetical order by last name): Allen Coin, Elizabeth Eskander, Abigail Presley, and Abby Scheper. Special thanks to Leila Ouchchy for assisting with pilot coding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Anirudh Nair & Veljko Dubljević

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  1. Anirudh Nair
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  2. Veljko Dubljević
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Correspondence to Veljko Dubljević .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Science Technology and Society (STS) Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Veljko Dubljević

  2. Department of Philosophy, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Frances Bottenberg

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Nair, A., Dubljević, V. (2021). Public Representation of Social and Ethical Issues in Frontotemporal Dementia. In: Dubljević, V., Bottenberg, F. (eds) Living with Dementia. Advances in Neuroethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62073-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62073-8_7

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