The Spectrum of Hope: An Optimistic and New Approach to Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias

• Science & Health

Just as Atul Gawande made us rethink the role of the doctor, Jerome Groopman cancer, and Oliver Sacks the brain, Dr. Gayetri Devi allows the millions of people whose lives are affected by Alzheimer’s and other dementias to find real, science-based hope.

A neurologist who’s been specializing in dementia and memory loss for more than 20 years, Dr. Gayatri Devi rewrites the story of Alzheimer’s by defining it as a spectrum disorder — like autism, Alzheimer’s is a disease that affects different people differently. She encourages people who are worried about memory impairment to seek a diagnosis, because early treatment will enable doctors and caregivers to manage the disease more effectively through drugs and other therapies.

Dr. Devi, through the story of her patients, humanizes the science with practical advice on how to maintain independence and dignity; how to fight depression, anxiety and apathy; how to communicate effectively with a person suffering from dementia. She also addresses sexuality, genetics, going public with the diagnosis, even putting together a bucket list — and figuring out how to continue to live and work in the communities.