Open AccessA Narrative Review of Alzheimer’s Disease Stigma
Author(s) -
Eric R. Rosin,
Drew Blasco,
Alexander Pilozzi,
Lawrence H. Yang,
Xudong Huang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of alzheimer's disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.677
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1875-8908
pISSN - 1387-2877
DOI - 10.3233/jad-200932
Subject(s) - stigma (botany) , disease , narrative , confusion , psychology , dementia , perspective (graphical) , narrative review , medicine , psychotherapist , psychiatry , psychoanalysis , pathology , computer science , linguistics , philosophy , artificial intelligence
As the most common form of senile dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is accompanied by a great deal of uncertainty which can lead to fear and stigma for those identified with this devastating disease. As the AD definition evolves from a syndromal to a biological construct, and early diagnoses becomes more commonplace, more confusion and stigma may result. We conducted a narrative review of the literature on AD stigma to consolidate information on this body of research. From the perspective of several stigma theories, we identified relevant studies to inform our understanding of the way in which implementation of the new framework for a biological based AD diagnosis may have resulted in new and emerging stigma. Herein, we discuss the emergence of new AD stigma as our understanding of the definition of the disease changes. We further propose recommendations for future research to reduce the stigma associated with AD.