New medium for reminiscence treatment

Categories: Health

Challenge

Dementia is a challenging problem in the ageing society. By the year 2010 there will be approximately 35.6 million people living with this debilitating disease. However to truly understand its impact on society, one must expand the affected population to include the network of friends, family and professional workers required to care for people living with dementia. People with dementia suffer from cognitive dysfunctions such as memory loss, mood disturbance, or other mental impairments that can be managed but not cured with medication treatment. Heavy burdens fall upon family members or caregivers, straining the local community as well as the larger social welfare system.

Solution

The project of rebuilding historical images aims to restore past scenes and stories by representing elders' memories with animation. The animation production process allows old people with early dementia to organize, recall and share their life experiences with the aid of old photos or objects. This interactive process and the animation work lead participants to playback meaningful moments in life and inspire them to think positively. The inspiration may reduce symptoms of depression and slow down memory loss in the early stage of dementia.

Results

Through the process of rebuilding elders’ life stories, the NTU INSIGHT animation team aims to recover day to day quality of life for participants and to maintain a heightened level of mental health among the participants. This project creates a new medium for reminiscence treatment, which helps to extend the active life of people with dementia. For further information about this project, please visit http://insight.ntu.edu.tw/.

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