The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis UniversityNational Program on Women & Aging
Women & Aging Letter
Excerpt, August 1996
Memory Loss: It's Not Inevitable
Volume 1, Number 5
Don't Let Memory Failures Frighten You
How do you react when you misplace your keys? Is it a sign that you must be losing your memory? Or that your memory is gradually "going down hill"?Daily throughout our lives we forget things. We tend to believe that forgetting usually does not signify that we have developed a serious memory problem. But as we grow older, attitudes often change, and we begin to worry. Research has shown that there are large age differences in people's reactions to forgetting or losing things. As we grow older, we are much more likely to think that such lapses are a sign of memory decline or even a sign of Alzheimer's disease.
Associating everyday memory lapses with a disease like Alzheimer's is a big mistake. Forgetting where you put your keys is not Alzheimer's; forgetting that keys open doors may be!
Suppose you believe that you misplaced your keys because your memory is declining. This can affect how you feel and how you behave. You may become anxious about your memory and possibly depressed. You may believe there is nothing you can do.
Older persons are likely to practice this kind of self-blame. In contrast, research finds that younger adults, who also forget keys and other things from time to time, almost never blame it on themselves. Instead, they are likely to ask, "Who took my keys?" They blame the problem on someone else. Or they may think to themselves, "I've been so absent-minded lately." Or they will rationalize: "I'm too busy, not paying enough attention to what I'm doing, and this is making me more forgetful."
A person with this type of reaction to memory lapse is more likely to think that something can be done about it. Next time they can pay more attention or hook their keys to a belt or pocketbook. What a contrast between this optimistic attitude and the more hopeless view of many older people. Attitude makes a difference!
One way to bolster healthy attitudes is to think about memory as a faithful friend. Don't we remember more things than we forget? Why then, do we have a tendency as we get older to focus on the things we forget? We forget how much we remember!
This is an excerpt only
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