When you ask someone if he knows what Alzheimer’s disease is, he will almost certainly be able to tell you that this disease causes (serious) dementia. In popular language Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are used interchangeably.

 

However, dementia can occur as a side effect of many diseases. For example, dementia can result from Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, several muscle disorders (e.g. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) and many other disorders. These forms of dementia do not go hand in hand with the specific degeneration of the brain which characterizes Alzheimer’s disease. There are different manifestations of dementia, all having different causes.

What is dementia?

The first questions which need answering are: ‘What is dementia?’ and ‘Does the process of growing demented have a purpose in life or is it just a negative phenomenon?’

 

Growing demented is the natural process of the gradual withdrawal of the spirit from the body, which can occur during man’s transition to higher life. Growing demented helps the person- if he is still strongly attached to Earth- to let go of life more easily. It helps him with his process of dying, which starts approximately nine months before the transition.

 

Therefore, in itself, dementia is not a disease, but a natural means given by the Creator to enable the spirit to withdraw from life more easily. By growing demented, one slowly loses one's grip on life. He will be more and more ‘absent’ and will be more often where he will be after his transition. This is a gradual process of adapting to life in the spheres.

Premature dementia

Dementia can only be considered a disease when someone starts to withdraw his spirit from life when this is not yet intended. For example, when someone, due to losing his job (retirement), does not have the will to continue to live or when he, due to old age infirmities, does not have hope for the ‘future’. In both cases his spirit will withdraw from his body, while it is not yet time to go. His starting dementia functions as a refuge in order not to have to face the reality of life.

 

This type of dementia is called premature dementia. Premature dementia is usually preceded by an old-age depression. In an early stage, this depression could be slowed down by stimulating the person’s motivation to live. Because this type of dementia has a psychological cause, the process of growing demented could, if recognised in time, be slowed down or even stopped with the support of a psychologist or psychiatrist.

Degenerative dementia

At the beginning of this article several types of dementia have been mentioned which all result from a long process of degeneration of the body. Many degenerative diseases, also those not mentioned here, involve dementia, depending on the progress of the degeneration. We can distinguish several stages:

1. Due to the degeneration of the brain, the cerebral trunk or the nervous system can no longer interpret the stimuli from the brain and transfer these to the body. Hence, the patient will not be able to communicate properly. He will develop, for instance, memory disorders or aphasia and will give the impression of being demented, while, according to the definition given in this article, this is not yet the case.
    
2. Due to the degeneration of the body and, subsequently, the inability to function properly the patient loses interest in life. This sometimes causes premature dementia. The person flees from the reality of a life that is becoming increasingly difficult. In this case we can speak of dementia.
    
3. At the end of a very ill person's life, the process of parting from life starts. The natural dementia process can then begin, amplifying the other symptoms.

Usually there is no clear distinction between whether a patient is degenerating (and therefore does not communicate well) or whether he is growing demented. To the people around him it doesn’t really matter. They will, in any case, lose their father, mother or partner to the enclosing fog. But it does matter to the physician treating this patient. For his treatment it is indeed important to understand whether the cause of this process is a progressing degeneration or an early or normal type of dementia.

Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by a very serious degeneration process of the brain, resulting in increased deterioration of the bodily functions and the occurrence of the types of dementia previously mentioned. The degeneration process of this disease is so serious, that not only do many of the bodily functions deteriorate, the juncture of body and soul degenerates too. This causes the coherence of the patient’s spiritual structure to deteriorate.

The disintegration of the spirit

Due to the deterioration of the spiritual structure, the coherence of the spirit, soul and personality, (out of which a human being, from a spiritual point of view, consists) will become completely disturbed. This causes a disruption of the flow of universal information from the spirit to the soul and personality. As a result the person’s spirit, soul and personality will get completely disoriented. Due to lack of guidance and recognition these then start to withdraw from the body.

 

First the structure of the personality deteriorates, as a result of which a person can no longer be addressed in his personality. The loss of decorum becomes complete. Subsequently the structure of the soul degenerates, which causes the complete loss of the human orientation. Eventually, the spirit can no longer be recognized and the patient enters into the stage in which he only functions as a foetus.

 

Due to this deterioration process, Alzheimer’s disease causes the most serious form of dementia: the total disintegration of the expression of the soul in the body.

Wholeness

It is very important to realize that the patient with Alzheimer’s disease, whose bodily functions are crippled and whose spirit is so disoriented, is, at the basis of his being, still whole! His withdrawn spirit, which in itself is not damaged, is still able to register everything. The spirit still remains connected until the cord of life breaks in his last moments on Earth!

 

The above explains why the patient with Alzheimer’s disease suddenly ‘as if by magic’ reveals the person behind the patient. ‘There he is again’, I have heard very often. One moment of lovely recognition, in which it becomes immediately clear that his spirit has actually been registering a lot. How else could he have ‘known’ what has happened? And how strikingly and with so much insight can he still come forward.

 

From a medical point of view this is a mystery because the body of a patient with Alzheimer’s disease is too damaged to be able to express himself well, but it does happen! Mentally and physically he seems to have lost his structure completely, but in such cases it suddenly becomes clear that his being registers the situations in his life and therefore he must still be completely whole! Therefore never joke about the patient or say negative things about him, which-you think- he will not be able to understand. Always be aware that his being is still present there as a guest at your dinner table.

Nourish the patient’s being intentionally

Once you realize this, it also becomes clear how important it is that you continue to visit the patient and surround him with your love. His being will absorb it all. Treat him with respect and his being will feel respected. And, what may not have been possible under normal circumstances is now possible: accepting your love. He will absorb it like a sponge.

 

The person with Alzheimer’s disease appeals to you. Give his being the healing he has longed for during his normal life. Acknowledge his cry for attention, love, respect amongst other things. Make use of the fact that his traumatised personality cannot protest. Give what his being longs for and so desperately needs. But never abuse it! After all he cannot defend himself. How vulnerable can a person become?

 

You have so much to offer to a person suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. At least, if you understand how he functions. Give with a warm heart, give with love. Because where there is love, the Alzheimer becomes lighter to bear. His eyes will start to radiate, like those of a child. A child that will be born again on the other side. And yes, completely whole! And he will take your love, positive attention and the respect you showed to his being with him.