Memory training in early Alzheimer's disease: An optimistic look at the field

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to encourage caregivers and treatment providers of early Alzheimer patients to try various memory stimulation strategies since, as this article will show, some patients do benefit cognitively, while most-caregivers and patients-benefit emotionally and psychologically from the cooperative effort. This article will review three published studies with encouraging results or elements, five with negative results, and three studies involving work with other populations that would seem to have applicability to early stage Alzheimer patients. This author will also describe two unpublished memory training interventions for early Alzheimer patients that have had promising results, but are not yet published. Related research and encouraging trends will be summarized, and treatment and rehabilitation strategies suggested by these and other published literature will be presented.