Waking up with Alzheimer’s, or never quite waking up: A case study

ABSTRACT

There is a paucity of literature demonstrating the efficacy of psychoanalytic psychotherapy for patients with Alzheimer’s or other dementias. This paper examines the challenges and richness of this kind of treatment for both patients and analyst through the use of a narrative case study.

KEYWORDS:

• Alzheimer’s
• case study
• creativity
• dementia
• loneliness
• loss
• psychoanalytic psychotherapy
• relational

Acknowledgments

While acknowledging the limits of this work, emphasis is placed on the creative potential available in the immediacy of each clinical hour as inherently, in and of itself, valuable.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jan Chess

Jan Chess, PhD, MFT is a psychoanalyst practicing in Oakland, California. She provides consultation, psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy for individuals and couples. She is a graduate of San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis where she also teaches.