FMC 2017/2
Text
Alzheimer's patients feel emotions long after memory has faded
Alzheimer's patients continue to feel happy or sad long after they have forgotten watching an emotive film, a study, carried out in 2013, shows.
In the study, a group for 17 Alzheimer's patients were shown films, one sad and one happy, and then given tests to establish how much of the film they could remember. They also scored their emotions over time. The results were compared to a similar group of healthy people. Some patients did not remember having watched a film at all yet still described the emotions triggered by it and the effects lasted for at least 30 minutes.
Leading researcher Edmarie Guzmán-Vélez, of the Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, said: ''Our findings suggest that even though patients with Alzheimer's disease may not remember instances of maltreatment, they can still experience the negative emotions triggered by such events.
One patient in the study said: "I feel like all my emotions and feelings are rushing in on me. It‘s extremely confusing and I do not like that feeling.''
Dr. Guzmán-Vélez said: "The persistence of this patient‘s intense negative emotion and her inability to conjure up a logical explanation for the cause of her feelings illustrate the confusion that a patient with Alzheimer's disease may experience when experiencing an apparently inexplicable feeling."
The fact that these patients‘ feelings can persist, even in the absence of memory, highlights the need to avoid causing negative feelings and to try to induce positive feelings with frequent visits and social interactions, exercise, music, dance, jokes, and serving patients their favourite foods.
The study, therefore, highlights the fact that actions toward patients with Alzheimer's disease have consequences, even when the patients do not appear to remember the actions. This has important implications for carers and family members.
Disponível em: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/ 11120439/ Alzheimer-patients-feel-emotion-long-after-memoryhas-faded.html. Acesso em: 05 maio 2017. Adaptado.
Glossary: carried out: conduzido; triggered: desencadearam; findings: descobertas; highlights: realça
The research findings described in text suggest that Alzheimer‘s patients:
feel negative emotions even when the experiences which triggered them are positive.
experience sad or happy feelings even when they don't remember what motivated these emotions.
experience feelings which are not related to the events which motivated these emotions.
feel positive emotions when confronted with negative experiences.
remember positive experiences when these trigger positive emotions.
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