Uncategorized

Dementia is the collective name for conditions in which progressive degeneration of the brain affects memory, thinking, behaviour and emotion. There are many different types and causes of dementia, including: Lewy body dementia, Frontotemporal dementia, Vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease dementia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Huntington’s disease, Mixed dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease (the most well-known and common form of dementia).  

Symptoms of Alzheimer’s include:

• loss of memory
• difficulty in finding the right words or understanding what people are saying
• difficulty in performing previously routine tasks
• personality and mood changes

Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of the aging process. Up to 5% of people with the disease have early-onset Alzheimer’s (also known as younger-onset), which often appears when someone is in their 40s or 50s. It is a disease that does not discriminate by social, economic, or geographical boundaries. Being tested for any form of Dementia is a turbulent and stressful experience. Diagnosis may be difficult at first, if the disease has not progressed far enough and can manifest in different ways for people.

Few of us will escape the impact of Alzheimer’s Disease, whether we succumb to it ourselves or in caring for a loved one. Due to lack of awareness and understanding of the disease, stigma is a significant obstacle to well-being for those with dementia and their families. It may prevent people from seeking a medical diagnosis or even talking openly with others about their lived realities. Earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease can increase the chances of delayed progression of the disease due to better treatments, and opportunities for persons to prepare for the future. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s it can be stressful and hard to accept. It is life-changing for both those who are diagnosed and those close to them. Joining a support group, learning more about the disease, participating in clinical trials, and spending quality time with family and friends are encouraged to help you accept and live the best quality of life for as long as possible. Although there is no cure, research on prevention, treatment and cure continues.

Alzheimer’s Awareness Day on the 21 September marks a month long campaign to raise awareness and challenge the stigma that surrounds dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is often called a family disease because the chronic stress of watching a loved one slowly decline affects everyone. Many family and friend connections are lost at the onset of progressive symptoms of the disease; lost by denial, unable to ‘see the person like this’, ‘wanting to remember him/her/them the way they were before’, or through frustration and anger. It is never too late to reach out to those diagnosed, and their caregivers, to find out how you can best support them. Get involved in the conversation, by reading up about the disease, joining an interest group to learn how you can support loved ones, correct sources of misinformation, stop stigma in its tracks by standing up for those pained by the disease, and most importantly, make the most of the valuable time that you have with the ones you care for.

Tia Walker, author of The Inspired Caregiver: Finding Joy While Caring For Those You Love, said it beautifully, “Affirmations are our mental vitamins, providing the supplementary positive thoughts we need to balance the barrage of negative events and thoughts we experience daily.” As with any disease, people need people, to support, love and comfort them and families, while they make sense of their experiences and lived realities.

For support, contact the Alzheimer’s South Africa national helpline on 0860 102 681.

Please feel free to contact the PsySSA office on 011-486-3322 for a referral for more intensive treatment with an HPCSA registered psychologist in the province and area in which you require require assistance.

Below are some useful links for further information.

https://alzheimers.org.za/

https://www.dementiasa.org/

https://www.alz.org/help-support/i-have-alz/make-a-difference

Lynn Hendricks^1,2,3,4,5

¹Executive Member, PsySSA

²Centre for Evidence Based Health Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University

³SOMETHIN’K Research Group, Centre for Sociological Research, KU Leuven

⁴Director, Research Ambition PTY

⁵Co-founder, Hearts in Action NPC

Journal of Personality announces a call for submissions for a forthcoming Special Issue on Psychobiographies of Social Change Agents.  This Special Issue has three aims, one focused on content, one focused on methods, and one focused on inclusive scholarship.

First, we want this Special Issue to highlight the relationships between personal biography and social change.  We are interested in case studies that embrace the psychobiographical tradition of striving to understand individuals whose actions foster change in the world.  Our definition of “social change” is quite broad, including widely-known leaders, unsung heroes of social change, and people working to improve their world on local levels.  Contributions can focus on famous figures or on personally known individuals as long as substantial biographical data is available for personological analysis.  Politicians, community organizers, artists, scholars, and other kinds of thought leaders are all appropriate subjects. Questions that authors might address could include: are there particular galvanizing moments in the individual’s life that become incorporated into an internal narrative?; what are the particular interpersonal and intrapersonal challenges that characterize a life of social change efforts?; what factors might help to account for the individual’s ability to persist in the face of obstacles to their social change efforts?; how do the social change agent’s personality and social-structural forces intersect to produce their unique story of activism.

Second, we want this Special Issue to demonstrate the breadth of innovative contemporary psychobiographical methods.  While the tradition of psychobiography can be traced back to the origins of psychology (Freud) and the study of personality (Murray, Allport), contemporary psychobiographers have a huge number of tools at their disposal for collecting and analyzing biographical data.  We hope the Special Issue will provide examples of innovative methods for conducting psychobiographies.  Analysis of primary documents (e.g., diaries, letters, memoirs, interviews, speeches, emails, blogs, social media postings) as well as previous biographical studies, are all encouraged.  If the subject is an artist, analysis of their works’ relationship to their activism is very much welcome.

Third, we want this Special Issue to provide scholars who have not previously undertaken psychobiographical analyses an opportunity to engage with these methods in the process of crafting a high-profile publication (articles appearing in Journal of Personality’s Special Issues have historically been among the Journal’s most highly-cited).  We are especially interested in supporting fledgling efforts from early-career researchers and researchers from marginalized groups (BIPOC, sexual and gender minorities, people with disabilities, etc.).

The timeline for this Special Issue is as follows:

• Deadline for submitting 750 word (in English) abstracts:     October 15, 2020
• Invitations for contributions will be made:                             November 1, 2020
• Deadline for manuscript submission:                                     September 1, 2021

This is an aggressive timeline, especially for scholars new to psychobiography, but we hope that will not hinder submissions.  Please do not hesitate to reach out to the co-editors with any questions prior to submitting an abstract!  They are happy to help you think through whether this is an appropriate project to pursue.  This special issue will be co-edited by Jonathan Adler, Olin College of Engineering (jadler@olin.edu) and Jefferson Singer (jasin@conncoll.edu), Connecticut College.

Nelson Mandela University reserves the right not to make an appointment. In considering candidates for appointment into advertised posts, preference will be accorded to persons from a designated group in accordance with the approved Nelson Mandela University Employment Equity Plan.

SIOPSA Interest Group for People Assessments in Industry (PAI), is calling Psychometrists and Psychologists working in the Assessment area to kindly complete a survey to help us understand the current assessment landscape in South Africa.  Your responses will remain confidential and the results will be analysed and reported on collectively.  A summary of the results will be shared with the profession through a webinar hosted by People Assessments in Industry (PAI) to further educate relevant stakeholders.

Kindly please click on the link to complete the survey: https://forms.gle/tcWhSx8rFDixTfES7

T H A N K  Y O U!