The Key Manifestation of Alzheimer Disease in the Film Away From Her - Essay Sample

"Away from her" is a film whose main characters are Fiona, Grants, and Aubrey. This film has focused on addressing the Alzheimer's disease concerning its manifestation, prognosis, and patient progress (Polley, 2014). Caregiving for this illness has been reflected in the film. More so, the film has displayed how the society considers patient is suffering from this disease. Alzheimer's disease is the outstanding form of dementia that manifests with signs of memory loss among other cognitive characteristics that affect how a person deals with their daily life. Alzheimer's disease presents in about 70% of the dementia cases that are encountered (Hampton, 2017). The Alzheimer disease affects three aspects of growth and development which include physical, social, and emotional growth. This disease has a higher risk when one age although it can as well manifest itself at younger ages below 65 years old. From the clinical perspective, this disease has been described as being a progressive disease where the symptoms worsen with time as the disease progress. Some of its signs during its early age are mild memory loss which at late stages the individual may develop a severe memory loss to the extent of losing the ability to provide a constructive conversation (Hampton, 2017). This discussion concerning the movie "away from her" will address the key manifestation of Alzheimer disease by focusing on the three aspects of this disease which are physical growth, emotional growth, and social growth.

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Physical growth

Alzheimer's disease progresses with time until the physical abilities of the patient are affected. As seen in the movie "away from her" Fiona was affected with this disease sometimes back where she has been regularly involved in exercises like hiking (Polley, 2014). During the disease process, some of the physical activities get affected at the middle stage of the disease. In about two years after the diagnosis, the disease starts to show up its signs and symptoms of physical growth thus calling for intervention from the caregivers. As seen in the film, after exercise failure to support Fiona's recovery, Grants who is the husband has found that his wife had completely lost coordination. Due to the progressive nature of this disease, Fiona's situation has continued to worsen. Concerning the effect of this disease on physical growth, care has become intensive, costly and time-consuming for Fiona. Healthy physical development is a continuous transition from infancy to adulthood.

Immobility and movement are the major elements of physical growth associated with Alzheimer's disease (Santrock, 2011). During the initial stages of this disease, some of the physical symptoms that present for this patient include loss of coordination. Concerning the loss of coordination, the patient's muscle becomes rigid and what a care provider can notice is tremors. On the late stages of the disease, the patient is in need of mobility devices like walking sticks and wheelchairs. According to growth and development, some gradual changes in mobility happen with age unlike the situation of Alzheimer disease. From the film, Fiona who has Alzheimer's disease, she has developed physical growth changes (Hampton, 2017).

Another effect on physical growth following this disease is incontinence. From the clinical and any other description, incontinence is the inability of an individual to control the bowel and bladder functions. During the episodes of Alzheimer's disease, the patient starts by losing memory to locate the washrooms. In normal circumstances of physical growth, the body is usually in a position to control these physical activities as well keeping the memory of what's going on. The third physical growth associated with Alzheimer disease is apraxia. During apraxia, the Alzheimer's patient cannot bathe herself, or even brush the teeth. Concerning this situation, the patient loses the pre-programmed motor skills. From the life-span development stages, some of the personal behaviors are induced by genetic and other environmental factors. The process of losing physical abilities as seen in the film concerning Fiona case of Alzheimer involves a gradual deterioration of these activities. Memory growth is facilitated by genetic factors as well as other physical activities (Hampton, 2017).

Emotional growth

Emotional growth and Alzheimer's disease have a relationship according to psychological growth and development illustrated by Jean Piaget. Concerning emotional growth, a person or a developing toddler captures different emotions during their early development (Cold, et al., 2017). Some of the emotions observed from the development chart include anger, joy, anxiety and fear. These emotions develop at various stages of the lifespan. Controlling the different emotions also is a developmental process. During Alzheimer's disease, the patient starts to lose these emotions one by one. The progress of this disease and its association with the emotional growth is like the reverse of childhood development (Publications, 2017). The Alzheimer's disease has been described as a progressive disease that facilitates in memory loss. It is evident from the film "away from her" that Fiona has lost her emotions.

Concerning emotion growth, some of the stages of growth experienced at childhood develop according to the environment and other surrounding factors (Santrock, 2011). The ability to think logically is an emotional aspect that is observable even when a toddler is growing up. When affected with Alzheimer's disease, this aspect fades away gradually. Episodes of confusion are also experienced in when one is affected by this condition. Regarding the film, Fiona has failed to recognize her husband at a glance meaning she has completely lost her memory. Again during the early stages of her illness, she could logically locate what was happening where she tells her husband that "she expects she is losing her memory" and one month later she has even lost the memory of her husband appearance. Abnormal reactions and responses idealistically characterize the emotional changes concerning Alzheimer's disease. Leaving alone confusion because it cuts across all developmental changes involved with Alzheimer's disease, other aspects of emotions may reflect on the patient. The emotional aspects of Alzheimer's disease are important for the caregivers. Some of the emotional changes negatively impact the care providers for this patient while others have a positive impact. The feelings of anger and anxiety may affect the caregivers due to unresponsiveness of the patient. On the other side, Alzheimer patients may present with joy making easier to deal with them.

Social growth

When looking at the infancy developmental stages according to Erickson developmental stages, the child acquires courage with time to socialize with people close to them (Simply Psychology, 2017). This is a non-cognitive behavior that makes the child to the ability to differentiate between a person of their own and a stranger. Concerning the Alzheimer's disease this social ability is lost as well as the recognition memory. According to psychological development, the stages of development once acquired they don't disappear quickly. From the film "away from her" Fiona has lost the contact to her husband and she doesn't want to stay near him (Polley, 2014). Her choice to have a nursing home caregiver is to facilitate separation from the husband. The manifestation of this disease is different from the expectations. Again Fiona has gained interest with another man who is not her husband. The social aspect of this patient is also compromised. Alzheimer's disease is a key source of all the episodes of confusion and inverted retrogression. Social growth also focuses on addressing how one individual behaves towards another person depending on their relationship. From the film, the relationship between Fiona and Grants is that they are couples, but due to loss of social aspect in Fiona, even their sexual interest has faded off. Alzheimer's disease has no boundaries concerning the social, economic status of the individuals. Aspects of income, occupation, and education are less related to this condition. Additionally, social growth is a personal need according to the Maslows hierarchy of needs that develops early in the lifespan. Alzheimers disease causes a loss of the social need.

Conclusion

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive disease that is idealistically characterized with episodes of confusion and activities that are contrary different from what one should be doing. According to growth and development and as a nurse, the understanding of how one develops both cognitive and non-cognitive behaviors is significantly applicable in understanding this disease. Most of the caregivers faced with this condition are nurses in the nursing homes. A clear understanding of the three aspects of growth namely physical, social and emotional growth that are affected by Alzheimer disease is a good start for developing a management strategy for such patients. Since the Alzheimer's disease has different manifestations from one patient to another, it is important to gather enough information concerning the signs and symptoms of this disease to enable successful management outcomes. Additionally, nurses have the duty to provide education to those people whom their friends are victims on management and treatment strategies.

References

Cold, F., Health, E., Disease, H., Management, P., Conditions, S., & Problems, S. et al. (2017).

Piaget Cognitive Stages of Development. WebMD. Retrieved 27 March 2017, from http://www.webmd.com/children/piaget-stages-of-development#1

Hampton, J. (2017). The Physical Effects of Alzheimer's. LIVESTRONG.COM.

Retrieved 24 March 2017, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/104354-physical-effects-alzheimers/

Polley, S., Christie, J., Pinsent, G., Dukakis, O., Munro, A., & Lions Gate Films,. (2014). Away

from her. Santa Monica, Calif.: Lionsgate.

Publications, H. (2017). The emotional side of Alzheimer's disease - Harvard Health. Harvard

Health. Retrieved 24 March 2017, from http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/the-emotional-side-of-alzheimers-diseaseSantrock, J. (2011). Life-span development (1st ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Simply Psychology, (2017). Erikson's Psychosocial Stages of Development. (2017). Simply

Psychology. Retrieved 27 March 2017, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html