"There is no death, only a change of worlds."
-- Chief Seattle*
What is dementia?
Dementia is a neurological deterioration from a normal level
of functioning to a temporary, fixed, or progressive loss of cognitive,
emotional, and physical functioning.
Memory, attention, language, and problem-solving may be affected. The person can become disoriented, not
knowing the time, the place, who they are, or who others are.
If dementia is severe or progresses in severity, the person
may neglect to care for themselves, and may become disinhibited, restless,
highly frightened or rageful, violent or self-endangering. There may be anomalous visions and hearing,
and ideas of persecution.
With certain forms of dementia, there may be movement impairments,
including perseverative movements, and balance problems. Physical functions such as swallowing may be
affected (Wiki).
The three most common forms of dementia are Alzheimer’s,
vascular dementia, and Lewy body dementia.
There is a lot of debate about the causes of all these dementias, but
Alzheimer’s and Lewy body seem to involve a build up of proteins in neurons,
and vascular dementia involves insufficient blood supply to the brain.
Dementia can be caused by head trauma or medications. Medication-induced dementia can be reversed
by removing the offending drugs.
Dementia and psi
Dementia is a challenging syndrome for the individual
affected and for the caregivers. The
nature of daily life changes dramatically and often for a long time. There is a lot of information available on
how to understand and respond to the situation at the physical and
psychological level. This essay will
briefly speculate about how to think of dementia from a psi perspective.
Some of the symptoms of dementia are easy to interpret from
a psi perspective. With other symptoms,
it’s more of a stretch, but we will see what we can do. There are also some experiences which occur
during dementia which cannot be considered symptoms in any way and are
obviously psi. We will also touch on
psi in the caregiver.
The guiding questions of this exploration are: Might people with dementia be living with a
foot in two worlds? What is the purpose
and meaning of psi in this situation?
Might there be a developmental purpose to the syndrome? In other words, are they developing in some
advantageous way, despite the very real hardships on them and their
caregivers? What is the evolutionary
purpose of dementia?
Seeing helpful deceased human
relatives, spirit guides, and angels
Perhaps the easiest dementia symptom to reinterpret from
pathology to veridical psi is when people see beings who are helpful, whether
they are familiar or unfamiliar. It
seems very plausible that, instead of imagining things, they are making greater
contact with non-physical beings than they were able to before. The purpose of the contacts revolves around
reassurance, preparation for crossing over, psychospiritual development, and
finishing unfinished business.
Here is one man who seemed to get a lot of comfort –
"My father had emphysema and
dementia (at least according to the doctors). He was born in South Dakota, USA.
He died four years ago on May 18th. One evening he was sitting on his couch
reading, and glanced down his hallway. He saw his grandmother in the hallway,
she turned, smiled and waved at him and continued on. He used to wake up in the
morning thinking our dog (from childhood days, gone over 30 years) was lying
beside him, asleep. And he would wake up petting the dog. And then he said he
woke up in the middle of the night, and my [pre-deceased] mother was sleeping
beside him. He asked her if it was time for him to leave with her, and she told
him -- not yet, but she would be with him until the end. For the last month of
his life, he said he woke up in the morning with mom at his side, and believed
she had snuck out to make him his favorite breakfast” (Planet Waves reader,
planetwavesweekly.com).
And here is a woman who spent a long time talking with
unseen people --
“We are going on year four of my
Mother giving my Grandmother full time 24/hour care in her home. Grandma
refuses to have any tests done, but the Doctors suspect bladder or kidney
cancer given the symptoms. There has been a decline in her mental capacity in
recent months, but still no diagnosis of anything. Mom has a small team of "ladies" that she calls upon to
help with Grandma when/if Mom wants to get out and do things. In all reality
Grandma should be in a nursing home and hopefully it will happen before the end
of the year, if something else doesn't happen instead.
For about a year now Grandma has
been "seeing" a woman that she calls Maria. She will have regular
conversations with Maria and will make references to her. As in, "Betty,
Maria is standing behind you, say hello" -- Mom (and her team) have
humored Grandma and call Maria her "Guardian Angel".
The other night Mom was sleeping on
the couch and got up to go to the bathroom and heard Grandma carrying on a full
conversation. She was alert and her words concise, but she didn't hear enough
to get the gist of the conversation. When Mom asked her who she was talking to,
Grandma said "those two ladies over there. Can't you see those two ladies
in the corner" A few of the ladies are starting to get spooked by it, but
they won't abandon Mom, Thank God” (Charlotte, twopeasinabucket.com,
9/27/2011).
Seeing or hearing unhelpful
humans
It’s harder to understand what might be the psi element of
people with dementia seeing or hearing humans who they experience as unhelpful,
mean, tricksterish, or threatening.
Sometimes, it seems like the problem lies in misinterpretation
based on fear. Perhaps the spirit
person is trying to be helpful, but the person seeing the vision is too scared
to realize that.
"My mom is a very active
80-year-old who still works full time in an office environment. As a matter of
fact, she just received a promotion. She's had a few disturbing nights. She
dreams that a tall woman, in a long dress, is standing at the foot of her bed
talking to her and trying to wake her up. Mom says that she wakes up and the
woman is still standing right there. My mother lives alone. She said the first
three or four times this happened she screamed. That's around the time she told
me about it. There have been other times, in these past few years, when she'd
wake up and see my deceased father sitting on his side of the bed. She doesn't
seem bothered when she sees my dad, but the woman at the foot of the bed scares
her, even though she's not doing anything menacing" (Planet Waves reader, planetwavesweekly.com)
Here’s another anecdote where it seems possible that there
were veridical visitors whose intention was helpful but it was misinterpreted –
“My MIL swore that someone broke
into their house. They lived out in the country and she said she woke up and
there was a man and woman sitting on the couch in the back room. She said she
told them to get the he!! out. She sounded perfectly believable but she was
later diagnosed with Alzheimer's”
(juswannascrap, twopeasinabucket.com, 9/27/2011).
It is not uncommon for people with dementia to be afraid of
dying or not want to die. This also
could make them misinterpret spirit beings whose intent is helpful.
“My dad cannot speak clearly while
awake, but when sleeping he is very clear, speaking with invisible entities. On
more than five occasions, he has gotten into arguments with those entities,
yelling at them saying, "No, I won't go with you. I won't go with you. Go
away." And other statements in that regard. Once he even mentioned that he
did not want to go to the light! A friend who helps me with my dad has
witnessed these actions as well. It is difficult to know if he is just rambling
the way Alzheimer's patients do or if he really is talking to family, but many
times he is convinced of their reality and goes looking for these people in the
shower, closets, wherever. He gets pretty upset when he can't find them. Is it
a symptom of the dementia or is he really in communication with the other side?
We have had activity in the house on a few occasions like a portable radio
turning itself on, TV turning itself on, and other electrical equipment. I feel
this is my family letting me know they are around and doing what they can for
me, as I am patiently waiting for his passing over naturally - but my dad is
extremely stubborn and strong for an 87 year old” (Paul M, http://paranormal.about.com/library/blstory_april01_05.htm,
April 2001).
Another possibility is that there are more human spirits
than we realize going about their business all around us all the time, and the
neurological change of dementia is one of the ways that one can become aware of
this parade. But, fear and lack of preparation
– on the part of the person with dementia or the caregiver – can cause a
distorted interpretation of vague new perceptions.
Here is one anecdote that might be explained as a distorted
perception of unfamiliar spirits –
“The same thing happened to an
elderly neighbor. He told us about the 2 women who came to his house and night
and cleaned. Then there was the man who came in and hid his things. We finally
called his son in another state. He got here just in time to find he had had a
stroke and was laying on the kitchen floor. He took him home and put him in a
nursing home. The doctor said dementia. He died soon after” (dynalady,
twopeasinabucket.com, 9/27/2011).
Another woman with Lewy body dementia believed neighbors
were playing the organ at 3 am, Al Qaeda was chanting nearby, bin Laden was
there, and men were hiding in the bushes (Fagan, personal communication, 18 Mar
13).
In my experience of recovery from neurological damage,
intense fear can be incredibly distorting.
It can take something real and magnify it so much that it becomes
distorted, just as when you turn the volume up too high on a sound system and
it distorts the signal. Some people
with dementia may be perceiving veridical spirits but then inflating and
distorting the danger, the meaning, and the relevance to themselves.
Medications or withdrawal from medications can also cause
both psi openings and distorted emotions and cognitions. Intentionally psychoactive meds such as
anti-psychotics, as well as unintentionally psychoactive meds such as antibiotics
may be the culprits in darkening a person with dementia’s experience of psi.
Lastly, we have to include the possibility that there are a
few mean or tricksterish spirits out there harassing people with dementia,
although it’s really too early to conclude that this is definitely the case –
“My husband woke up with such a
twisted hateful look on his face as he accused me of squeezing his toes and no
matter what I said about being a good distance away from him carried on such a
tirade I just ran into the kitchen. He had woken screaming in terror the other
night shouting out that he was in agony because someone was squeezing his toes.
I lay beside him but he still said there was a man at the foot of the bed. How
can I with all honesty dispute what he sees when I have had first hand
experience of strange things?” (lilypad, forum.alzheimers.org.uk, 1 Mar 2013).
Seeing non-human beings (most
often small humanoid)
Perhaps the hardest dementia symptom to re-interpret as
veridical psi is the sighting of non-human, non-angelic beings. They are often humanoid and
miniaturized. This can occur in Lewy
body dementia. It is also
characteristic of Charles Bonnet Syndrome.
Charles Bonnet Syndrome is a visual condition which is
technically not dementia, but which can occur in elderly people, and has
elements in common with dementia. It is
characterized by extremely realistic, complex visions of people, animals,
architecture, objects, and geometric patterns.
The conventional view is that these are imaginary visions created by
optic pathology. Interestingly, the
syndrome is usually temporary, and experients are often notably cognitively
intact (Mendelson, 2009, pp. 57-8, Wiki)
One of the unique characteristics of this syndrome is that
the people seen are usually miniature.
Apparently, they are often in costumes (Mendelson, 2009, p. 58).
Some neurologists hypothesize that the visions are caused by
the mind compensating for insufficient optical information, similar to how
people create visions in sensory deprivation tanks (Mendelson, 2009, p. 58).
But, then, are people unilaterally creating the visions they
see in sensory deprivation tanks?
Another possibility is that people are really seeing
miniature humanoids who exist somewhere in the universe, and that some
neurological change is making it possible to tune into these beings. This is reminiscent of the elven people that
are sometimes encountered under the influence of various psychedelic
substances.
Psychiatrist Rick Strassman did historic research on
injected DMT in the 1990s, and, despite his own initial shock and misgivings,
became convinced that some of his subjects were meeting veridical non-human
beings. There was a lot of consistency
among subjects’ reports about a limited number of types of beings – insectoid,
reptilian, elvin, automaton, and clown (Strassman, 2001, pp. 185 – 219). The famous psychedelic expert Terence
McKenna had reported meeting similar beings when smoking DMT in the 1970s --
“There are these things, which I
call "self transforming machine elves"….I name them 'Tykes' because
tyke is a word that means to me a small child, ... and when you burst into the
DMT space this is the Aeon - it's a child, and it's at play with colored balls,
and I am in eternity, apparently, in the presence of this thing” (Wiki).
DMT is produced endogenously by the pineal gland in the
brain. It is also produced by plants,
and a synthetic form is available.
Strassman speculated that the amount of DMT in your system determined
what reality you are tuned into. With
insufficient DMT, you may not be tuned into any reality much at all. With the normal amount, you will be tuned
into conventional reality. And with more, you may be tuned into channels of
reality we don’t usually have access to (Strassman, 2001, pp. 310-328).
This leads us to consider the possibility that people with
Charles Bonnet Syndrome, and with dementia-related visions, may be 1) tuning
into another channel of reality, and 2) DMT may be involved.
The pineal gland, where DMT is produced, is an endocrine
gland in the middle of the brain. It is
connected to the visual system; it produces or utilizes several endogenous
substances that alter consciousness and may be psi-conducive; and it has
traditionally been considered the seat of the soul.
Biologist J.V. Wallach has articulated a fascinating theory
about endogenous hallucinogens that may serve to explain how visions of little
people could be veridical.
In the words of radical psychiatric survivor
d_vyne_madnesss:
“[The] 'reality' we take to be
'normal' and 'objective' may in fact be rather a controlled psychedelic
experience!…
“Wallach proposes that…waking
consciousness can be thought of as a controlled psychedelic experience. When
the control of these normal systems of perception becomes loosened and their
behavior no longer correlates with the external world, then altered states
arise.
“Translated, what this suggests is
that consciousness, the waking state we take as a 'given' and that feeds us
information about the physical world, is itself a kind of hallucination that is
fed to us in a controlled way by the pineal gland. Changing the dosage and
timing results in a completely different experience (the aliens, the tunnel of
light), raising the question of, which experience is real?” (d_vyne_madness, 2009).
In dementia and Charles Bonnet Syndrome there may be
“damage” or changes to the pineal gland that change what channels of reality
the person can perceive.
In the following anecdote, we might be seeing a combination
of a veridical perception of a small being misinterpreted through the lens of
unfamiliarity and fear. It is also
worth noting that this percipient was undoubtedly on high doses of powerful
antibiotics, which also could have both facilitated and distorted access to
other parts of reality.
“When DH's grandmother was having
serious health problems, I believe bladder/kidney issues, and pancreas issues,
she got delirious. She told us Raggedy Ann climbed out of her TV in the
hospital room every night and spent the night praying for Grandma on the end of
her bed. She climbed back into the TV every morning.
It was just from the raging
infections in her body….
Grandma was quite rational when she
told us about Raggedy Ann. She's a life-long pastor's wife, so the fact that
the doll was praying for her was a totally rational thing for her to say.”
(angela1422, twopeasinabucket.com, 9/27/2011).
Telepathy / clairvoyance
Joen Fagan, PhD is a psychologist with a great deal of
experience in working with people with dementia and their caregivers. He is currently working on a book with Jean
Harsch, MSW, which proposes that “it is possible that there are spiritual
dimensions to dementia and that being sensitive to these may help a little”
with the incredibly difficult task of caring for someone with dementia. The book will look at three aspects of
spirituality and dementia: 1) the value
of cultivating the classical religious values of love, forgiveness, empathy,
gratitude, honesty, etc. towards oneself as caregiver as well as towards the
person with dementia; 2) the cultivation and noticing of how literature,
meditation, prayer, encounters with others can pull us toward beauty, mystery,
and transcendence; and 3) opening up more dialogue about the anomalous
experiences that often occur during care of a person with dementia, such as
ESP, NDEs, and terminal lucidity.
In a phone interview, Fagan reported an instance of
clairvoyance involving his partner Irma that had occurred when she had had Lewy
body dementia for seven years. At that
point, she was bedridden, prone to hallucinations and delusions, and only
somewhat able to talk coherently. Fagan
was in another room from Irma, with a connecting hallway in between, about 28
feet away, with his back to her, but just visible to her. He was writing a check to one of their
certified nursing assistants. They were
not speaking.
As he handed the check to the assistant, Irma called out
clearly, “That check is wrong!” Fagan
and the assistant were stunned. It’s
worth noting that Irma had hated anything to do with numbers her whole life and
had never been the check-writer in the family.
Fagan re-did his math, and found that he had, indeed, calculated the
payment wrong!
Here is an instance of telepathy –
“I've also run across two reports
of unusual psychic ability in Alzheimer's patients. One friend told me that
while she was taking care of an elderly woman with Alzheimer's, she got really
impatient and angry with her (not uncommon for caregivers) and thought
murderous thoughts. The old lady turned to her and said "You're not going
to kill me!" Needless to say, my friend was more careful after that”
(Greenbriar, planetwavesweekly.com).
And one more instance of telepathy –
"I took care of my mother,
with Alzheimer's, until she died a few years ago. One of the hard aspects of
doing this was that I had to keep my mind as BLANK as possible while in her
surroundings, or else she would pick up on my thoughts and keep 'nagging' me
all day. If I would only think something like 'I need to make a dentist
appointment today', she would keep reminding me all day long ('Have you called
the dentist yet?' many, many. many times over and over...)” (Planet waves
reader, planetwavesweekly.com).
Note that all three examples involve hypervigilance on the
part of the person with dementia. I
wonder if we could change the valence of the psi if we were working more
proactively with it, educating and reassuring people with dementia and their
caregivers about the normality and value of psi.
Terminal lucidity
Terminal lucidity is when people with dementia or other
serious psychological or neurological problems, who have been severely
cognitively and emotionally impaired for many years, become lucid, rational,
oriented to time, place, person, and situation, emotionally or spiritually
sophisticated, or demonstrate psi in their final minutes, hours, or days.
According to biologist Michael Nahm, Ph.D., instances of
terminal lucidity have been documented since ancient Greece, including cases
where autopsy showed severe neurological damage that would make the lucidity
virtually impossible within a materialist paradigm (Nahm, 2009, p. 90-95).
Nahm makes the interesting point that terminal lucidity
looks much the same in 1) mentally healthy people, 2) mentally unhealthy people
without significant brain damage, and 3) mentally unhealthy people with
significant brain damage of vastly different types (Nahm, 2009, p. 100).
Joen Fagan reported an instance of terminal lucidity where a
man with Lewy body dementia, who had not talked for a long time, one day said
clearly to his wife, “Do you still need me?”
Instinctively, she said yes, but she thought about it further, and then
reassured him that, in fact, she and their children were all fine. She told him, “When you need to go, you can
go.” He died four days later.
Fagan also reported an instance of close-to-terminal
lucidity involving his partner Irma with Lewy body dementia and their
daughter. This occurred a couple of
months after Irma had stopped talking and about two months before her
death. It was a very unexpected
breakthrough in communication for them.
Their daughter tells the story --
It is fairly early in the morning
and Irma is not yet out of bed in the nursing home. I slip in to see her on my way out of town and have pulled up a
chair bedside. I might have said a few
things which she did not respond to prior to saying this, I don't
remember. I think I was either holding
her hand or touching her arm. I was
searching her face and she was making pretty good eye contact and her eyes were
not "cloudy" that morning. It
was fairly early on in the nursing home period- maybe a month in.
I said: "Irma, I am so
sorry. It was not supposed to turn out
like this."
She focused and sort of
straightened up, pushing her head and face forward to the extent she could and
very clearly, deliberately and fiercely said: "Not at all."
The inadvisability of
psychoactive prescription meds
In reading some of the online discussion forums for
caregivers of dementia, I was surprised to see that there were a lot of
comments about how psych meds are offered or even pushed on people with
dementia, yet often these meds make people worse, and that the caregivers had
found it preferable to learn to live with the symptoms or manage them in other
ways.
This anecdote is an illuminating cautionary tale --
“The story I have to relate is of
my father, who is still living but with a long time case of Alzheimer's. My
father has had the dementia for over 12 years now. He would have died many
years ago, I believe, except for the action I took of removing him from the
medications that the doctors had prescribed for him.
When I began caring for him seven
years ago, they prescribed Prozac, Buspar and halioperiodal (Haldol) to help
control him. For two years he was on these meds and progressively grew worse,
to the point of loss of balance, loss of speech, incontinence, the whole nine
yards. About 1996, I became aware of the uselessness of these drugs and removed
him from those meds and quit taking him to the doctors. Needless to say, he
improved dramatically, regained his balance, diet, continence, speech and
strength.
At the end of 1997 I had a triple
bypass (due to the stress of caregiving - another story altogether) and I had
to put him in a nursing home for a month while I recuperated from the surgery.
They put him back on those same drugs and he returned to his previous state of
falling, no comprehensive speech, etc.
It took me three months to remove
him from those meds once Medicare quit overseeing him. Again he returned back
to a state of somewhat normalcy - given the fact that he is a complete
blithering idiot with Alzheimer's.
In the last three years, he has had
a dramatic decrease in all areas and is now at the stage naturally where he was
when on the meds” (Paul M, paranormal.about.com, April 2001).
Omega-3
It’s possible that Omega-3 supplementation may help with
dementia, and that mega-dose Omega-3 may help a lot.
A comprehensive review of the literature conducted by Loef
and Walach at the Viadrina European University in Frankfurt, and published in
January 2013, found that, in both animal and human studies, there was a link
between the dietary Omega-6 / Omega-3 ratio, cognitive decline, and incidence
of dementia (Loef & Walach, 2013).
In another recent paper, Dacks, Shineman, and Fillet at the
Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation in New York point out that epidemiology
indicates a higher risk of cognitive decline in people in the lower quartile of
Omega-3 intake or blood levels (Dacks et al., 2013).
A 2012 meta-analysis of human studies measuring Omega-3
blood levels, conducted by Lin, Chiu, Huang, and Su at the Kaohsiung Chang Gung
Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung,
Taiwan, found that overall Omega-3 level, EPA level, and DHA level were
significantly lower in people with dementia, while only the EPA level was
significantly lower in people with predementia syndrome (Lin et al., 2012).
In a study published February 2013, Fiala et al. at the
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA identified key genes and signalizing
networks that might explain how vitamin D and Omega-3 enhance the immune
system’s ability to clear the brain of amyloid-beta plaques, which are a
hallmark of Alzheimer’s. The
supplements helped macrophages in vitro to expunge amyloid-beta (5 Feb 2013
UCLA press release). This immune
function is yet another mechanism by which Omega-3 may help the brain, in
addition to making neuron walls more flexible and building myelin.
There are people experimenting formally and informally right
now with high-dose Omega-3 (9,000 mg / day and higher) for traumatic brain
injury, coma, severe psychological problems, and neurological damage from
prescription medications. I would like
to see research done on high-dose Omega-3 for dementia.
Psi in the caregiver
People with dementia range in their presentation from fairly
calm and collaborative to highly agitated and endangering. It takes a lot of tolerance and skill to be
a caregiver to someone with dementia.
If the caregiver had a personal relationship with the person before the
dementia appeared, then the caregiver has to go through an extensive process of
adjusting to the progressive changes in their loved one, and this can be very
grueling.
Sometimes, caregivers witness symptoms in the person with
dementia that might be psi. They may
miss the psi aspect, or perceive it and be threatened by it, or perceive it and
be comforted by it.
Here is an anecdote of a professional caregiver who
perceives the psi experience of the person with dementia and has her own
corroborating psi experience --
“You can see the person is focused
in another dimension, it's as if they are looking through the walls. Sometimes
they will speak and at other times I see them nodding their heads in response
to conversations I can't here. I can at times feel the presence of others in
the room but they tend to reveal themselves to the individual more than to me.
Fragrances and energy signatures are very clear though” (Cinnamon Moon,
spiritlodge.yuku.com, 23 Jun 05).
And here is an anecdote of a family member caregiver who
reports on her father having psi during dementia, as well as having her own psi
experience --
“And the last day of his life he
said mom [predeceased first wife] had run out to get things ready, but he would
like us to chat with his old army buddies while she was gone. My sister and I
swear we saw about ten men dressed in Second World War uniforms around our dad.
Some very young, and some very old, very indistinct -- like a dream as you are waking
up. Then he died that night. And strangely enough, his second wife buried him
in a military cemetery, not in the local cemetery" (Planet Waves reader,
planetwavesweekly.com).
The psychospiritual purposes
of dementia
Dementia can be a torturous experience for the person
experiencing it and for the caregivers.
Is it possible that expanding our understanding and utilization of psi
or spiritual experiences during dementia might make the journey any easier?
In reviewing anecdotes, several possible psychospiritual
purposes of this neurological ailment emerge.
They seem to fall generally under two headings for the person with
dementia – preparing to cross from this life to the next stage of existence,
and psychospiritual development or healing.
For the caregiver, there may also be significant psychospiritual
development. We will also look
specifically at the purpose of terminal lucidity.
Preparing to cross
Preparing to cross may involve working on fear of crossing,
loosening ties to this world, or finishing unfinished business.
Fear
of crossing
Some people are afraid or unwilling to die or cross into the
next stage of their existence. One of
the psychospiritual purposes of dementia may be to provide a liminal period
during which the person may be helped both here and on the other side to make
peace with the idea of crossing. See
the section on “seeing and hearing unhelpful humans” above for a couple of
anecdotes of frightening hallucinations that might be interpreted as attempts
by spirit beings to help someone with their fear of crossing.
Loosening
ties to this world
Dementia loosens ties with certain parts of the self,
relationships, and reality. Painful as
this is for everyone involved, it may serve the developmental purpose of
preparing to re-locate to a new stage of life.
Here is an anecdote from a Native American Medicine Woman
that illustrates the view that people with dementia are sometimes making brief
forays to the next world in preparation for moving there permanently --
“My training with dementia is along
these lines, that the spirit of the individual is focused in the spirit realm
and gradually spends more time there than here in the mundane. It is honored as
such and at times they come back to the physical reality with their stories to
share. I've just always accepted it as such and honored their *trance state*
without disruption to it....or as little as possible in caring for their
physical needs. I keep that part very simple, Mari-la. If they become rational
(if that's the proper way to put it) I'll talk with them about their spiritual
experiences, they seem (in most cases) eager to share them, talking about
friends and relatives that they were with who had crossed over long before
them. It's lovely really. I know it upsets the family but it's nothing to fear”
(Cinnamon Moon, spiritlodge.yuku.com, 23 Jun 05).
Finishing
unfinished business
There seem to be at least three ways that dementia may serve
as a platform for taking care of unfinished business. One is to take care of unfinished business from earlier in
life. An example of this will be given
below in the section “A very useful overall model.” Another is to take care of unfinished business in current
relationships. As mentioned above in
the “terminal lucidity” section, the person may even ask explicitly if they
have done everything they have to do before they cross. The third is to contribute to taking care of
the unfinished business of ancestors in the lineage.
Current
relationships
Here is an example of someone with dementia needing help
from a caregiver to finish unfinished business in one relationship, and to get
reassurance about some other matters --
“Well - as I knew this man for
about 25 years, I knew that there was one thing I knew from that things still
had to be cleared between certain people and him. I phoned the person and
exlained the situation. She said that things are clear for them. I asked her to
tell this so that the other person (the man) gets it (some need to hear it) -
so that he can let go this struggle... As the man could no longer communicate
at the phone I asked her to talk to the wife of the man to tell her what she
felt to tell and to tell it to the man, then. She did this.
I also knew that the man felt that
he had to take care of his wife and his son (adult people). He wanted to know
that they are taken care of. When I sat with him I told him that he had
prepared all he could to allow his wife and his son a life in Beauty - that
both are taken care of (as this was the truth), that he had gifted his son with
wisdom and support. That both in my eyes are prepared to live in Beauty - as he
had supported them all his life the best way...
He had sat like sleeping before.
When I told this he became "awake" - he tried to speak - he looked into
my eyes - and energy was in his body... I thanked him also for all I was
allowed to learn form him. Much energy was felt around him, but he could not
speak - but he was "there" for a short time as I saw his eyes... I
left with the feeling that important things were spoken out and released, that
he felt calm, that he felt and had got the feedback that his life had had a
sense and that he had done good for the family he left behind...
About two days later the man
died... (I will try to share what to offer to tell people when they no longer
"are there" to help them possibly to go easier, to let go, to go in
peace... As many can not let go because of fear that family, loved ones are not
taken care of, they also need to get a clear feedback sometimes that their life
had had a sense, too...)” (Mari-la, spiritlodge.yuku.com, 25 Jun 05).
Lineage
trauma
It’s possible that some people with dementia are
participating in helping to heal trauma or unfinished business in their
lineage. Both parapsychology and Family
Systems Theory in psychology have astonishing examples of how people
unwittingly repeat or seem to respond to events that happened to ancestors of
which they have no apparent knowledge.
French Resistance member, Fulbright scholar, psychologist,
and psychoanalyst Anne Ancelin
Schützenberger wrote a complex and ground-breaking book “The ancestor
syndrome: Transgenerational
psychotherapy and the hidden links in the family tree,” in which she combines
psychodynamic theories with psi theories to provide an additional lens for
understanding distress that cannot be accounted for using the individual’s own
life experience.
She gives numerous case studies of people whose distressing
symptoms did not respond to conventional psychodynamic interpretations but
cleared up when research was done on their ancestors, and an interpretation was
made based on the ancestor’s trauma – often something which had not been common
knowledge.
In this context, it’s thought-provoking to consider how
often people with dementia seem to see and talk to their ancestors. If they are, in fact, participating in some
healing work for their lineage, one of the ramifications of this is that it
might explain why even people who have done a lot of psychospiritual work on
themselves still develop the neurological problem of dementia. They may be being called to address
unresolved issues from ancestor’s lives.
Development
Despite the losses and hardships of dementia, there may be
some gains in terms of psychospiritual healing and development. The person with dementia may paradoxically
develop a certain mindfulness and trust, may develop less developed parts of
the self, and may advance to new levels of awareness.
Developing
mindfulness and trust
Here is one caregiver demonstrating quite a stunning
perspective on how dementia can sometimes – in a safe and loving environment –
contain elements of states of consciousness than many of us strive for --
“My sisters and I often discussed
my mother's dementia and her ending up having that disease which would dictate
her final journey here on earth. We noted that my mother had learned that which
many advocate that we should do and that is to live in the present moment. Her
deteriorating skills meant that she no longer considered the future and her
memory problems stopped her living like most of us do, by reference to the
past. For her, every day was new. Every day was as though she was experiencing
things for the first time. Occasionally she would remember someone else's name
but on the whole she lived in the moment and even then sometimes in a world
that was beyond our reach….There are other lessons too. How about trust. Being
so vulnerable that your whole existence is dependent upon you putting your
trust in others to care for you and keep you safe. Can you contemplate you
abandoning all your protections and laying yourself open to whatever may
be.” (FifiMo, forum.alzheimer.org.uk,
24 Feb 2013).
Developing
less developed parts of the self
And here is another caregiver speculating that some of the
changes brought on by dementia might be serving a developmental purpose,
pushing the person to develop the less developed sides of themselves --
“Sometimes the experience changes -
the coin flips over - and the person who has always been "in charge"
of their life, the one who has sacrificed and worked hard and given so much to
others, becomes the one who is now helpless, the one to whom sacrifices are
made, for whom others take their turn in working hard and being the giver….
You see, these archetypes can flip
over and the other side is expressed as an alternative way for the Oneness to
'be' as an expression of that archetype.
Often we don't let our archetypes
fully express in all their richness, because we get locked into our
patterns/roles/duties, perhaps because we are compelled to do so by other
people's patterns and scripts. But the Universal One chooses the moment to free
us from something and use us to express something else” (Owly,
forum.alzheimers.or.uk, 24 Feb 2013).
Advancing
to new levels of awareness
There is also some suggestion, both from wisdom traditions,
and from comments made by people with dementia, that they are advancing to new
levels of awareness at the same time that conventional levels of awareness are
faltering.
In a deeply researched paper prepared for a Stanford course,
ethnogeriatric nursing specialist Levanne R. Hendrix, PhD reviewed the beliefs
about dementia of some Native American tribes.
“Although dementia is relatively
rare in American Indian elderly, it is anticipated that as Indians’ life
expectancy increases, so will the incidence of dementia. Explanatory models
vary from tribe to tribe, and individual to individual” (Hendrix, 2000).
For example, among the Cherokee –
“….Dementia is a part of the
Creator’s plan for that person’s ultimate learning and may not require
intervention or help-seeking (“naturalization” of cognitive impairment and
dementing behavior, with greater “tolerance” for a wide range of behavior than
white communities) (Cherokee)” (Hendrix, 2000).
The following anecdote brings up really fascinating
possibilities for looking at dementia as a systemic transformation, along the
lines of a Kundalini awakening or shamanic initiatory illness, that is
re-wiring the person for an entirely new way of being --
“I wonder if my mum's dementia is
to do with kundalini rising as it was accompanied by an activation of Uranus
(planet of crown chakra) in her birthchart by the planet Pluto which makes
things very intense. She told me, excitedly, that she was seeing fleeting,
fascinating symbols rushing into and out of her mind. A rush of energy into the
mind and brain that, in its intensity, wiped out many of her neurons and memory
patterns. She feels no sense of responsibility any more….She is now very happy
not to be responsible….” ((Owly, forum.alzheimers.or.uk, 24 Feb 2013).
Development of the caregiver
Taking care of a person with dementia can be grueling work
physically and emotionally. The strange
behaviors of someone with dementia can be threatening to anyone, but if the
caregiver is a loved one, the changes and losses can be extremely depressing,
anxiety-provoking, and angering. Many
caregivers go through a descent experience that challenges their fundamental
worldview.
It is a unique hardship to suffer as a caregiver when you
are caring for someone you love who may, at times, be in agony. How do you dare to give any thought to your
own suffering when theirs is so much greater?
Yet the caregiver’s journey through dementia is important, not only
because they too deserve care like any human being, but because there is a
field effect of the dementia that affects anyone who is near it. The caregiver is part of the developmental
project.
The field effect of the dementia changes the environment
around the person with dementia. There
is an otherworldly quality which can evoke a sort of dream state in the
caregiver. The physical and emotional
work of the caregiver can also be exhausting and contribute to being in an
altered state. Caregivers may witness
psi or have their own psi experiences for the first time. This may trigger a paradigm shift.
If there is a psychospiritual developmental purpose to
dementia for the person who has it, then there is also a psychospiritual
developmental purpose for the caregiver.
The situation may be comparable to what ethnopsychologist Holger
Kalweit, PhD observed in his studies of indigenous shamans around the
world. He has written that there is a
field effect of the person going through a severe shamanic initiatory
illness. The people around the initiate
will also tend to experience their own illnesses and disruptions. The transformative ordeal involves a wide
circle of people (Kalweit, 1984).
Ideally, the caregiver arrives at state of finding their own
great meaning, healing and growth in the experience. Some people come to feel that caring for someone with dementia is
the most meaningful thing they have ever done.
Some family caregivers come to feel emotionally closer than ever to
their loved one with dementia even when the old means of communication are not
there.
In reporting some Native American perspectives on dementia,
Hendrix wrote –
“….Dementia is a condition in which
the person’s spirit has already crossed over into the next world, but the body
remains behind as it prepares to leave. The caregiver’s job is to take care of
the body until it is ready to leave, and this is sacred work. The person is
communicating in the spirit world, which is why language and behavior appear to
us as if overhearing one side of a telephone conversation. In some Indian
communities this is a mark of elevated spiritual status for the family
(Oklahoma Choctaw)” (Hendrix, 2000).
The
purpose of terminal lucidity
What does terminal lucidity tell us about dementia? It provides an eye-opening demonstration
that the person with dementia continues to exist, either as they normally were,
or even with more advanced development.
It shows that explicit communication may be possible even at the very
end. This communication may range from
the simple but heartfelt to the more complex and astonishing. Terminal lucidity (as well as the instances
of telepathy and clairvoyance above) also implies that a person with even
advanced dementia may be understanding a caregiver’s communication at least
some of the time, comparable to how we now view coma.
As Medicine Woman Cinnamon Moon says --
“….I do believe their spirit hears
us and understands. The awareness is linking to the collective at that time and
we're a part of that too. Whether it's dementia, altzheimer's, or coma,
speaking with their Higher Self is always possible IMHO. Even modern medicine
encourages visitors to speak with these patients. Think about the accounts of
near-death-experiences people have while out under anesthesia in surgery or
from accidents where they recount the details of events and who was present,
who said what. Those examples are quite profuse in recorded case files too. So
yes, by all means, I believe the spirit hears and responds as it needs to”
(Cinnamon Moon, spiritlodge.yuku.com, 24 Jun 05).
In some cases, the purpose of terminal lucidity may be to
allow the person with dementia to serve as a kind of prophet or inspiring
visionary, comparable to the function served by some people who share their own
astonishing NDEs. In his paper on
terminal lucidity, Michael Nahm gives several examples from the historical
record of people with long-lasting, severe psychological and neurological
conditions who, in their final hours or days, became lucid and highly spiritual
in their discourse. Just the miracle of
their lucidity is paradigm-shifting for the people around them. But, sometimes,
they also have a lot to impart about life in this world and the next (Nahm,
2009, pp. 90-7).
A
very useful overall model
Here is a wonderful overview of what dementia is all about
from Mari-la, member of a Native American discussion forum –
“when I was allowed to work with a
wonderful old man who has Alzheimer over several years (he dropped his robe
last year), I was allowed to journey to where he was "when he was not
there". This is what I got:
_______ The room/time continuum
melts away for them (often).
_______ If life and the learning
areas are like football fields, then they are sometimes also drawn back to
"that" football field where they still have things to do, where
things are to be with. (May be the youth, war times, work...)
_______ They may switch between
football fields very fast - and this confuses the others around, as they think
the person now is totally going "crazy". No, as room/time continuum
melts away for them (they walk in other dimensions), they can walk between the
football fields - but not often voluntarily, but where they are called to. This
way some people with alzheimer may look again and again for their money, some
ask again and again for their passport, some cry for their shoes, some are in
their work and each thing around is "connected" for them with their
work...
_______ Then there are times where
sterotype movements may occur - this was shown as not being on the playground
of a football field, but that the body comforts itself (like with autistic
people) to calm down, to release physical stress that touches the body, to give
itself a rhthym in a world where the person has lost the daily rhythm... These
stereotype movements (like putting together the same cloth over hours - folding
it, unfolding it, folding it, unfolding it...) gives a calm and smoothing
sensation to the body where the spirit has lost much connection to... Like with
autistic people I do not feel to "interrupt" their movement, but to
see which kind of comfort is needed - and to offer it, may be (if allowed)
touching the arm softly and carressing it)...
_______ They forget to take care of
their body - this way the others have to be patient and to help them eat,
drink... As the life energy flows back to the middle of the life center
(preparatiopn for death) over a longer time (what I got), not forcing them to
eat, but softly encouraging them, softly helping them... I saw people becoming
harsh and loud: "Eat! You have to eat!" - but they can not, as
according to the process of dying the life energy moves to the center - it is
one of the first steps of preparation to death. (I hope to share more about the
steps of the dying process itself, how the energy leaves the body in which
steps, too... It may help a lot to understand what happens - whether it is in
seconds or over years...).
_______ Yes, they get what we say -
not in our words, but beyond words - in the dimensions where there is
understanding without words. One person with alzheimer - the life energy still
had floated very much to the center - eating was no longer possible in a good
way, drinking not - the body followed the natural way of the dying process in
refusing food and drinking (...also with harsh reactions, as the natural dying
process was taking place and eating and drinking would hurt on a certain level,
then. It is not easy to get "the" moment, when refusing food and
drinking is one of the sacred and powerful steps of the dying process in its
natural way. It is not to be misunderstood not to feed them and to give them to
drink - but to see when the dying process sets in with more power...)”
(Mari-la, spiritlodge.yuju.com, 25 Jun 05).
Evolutionary purpose
Dementia is often a descent experience for the individual
and for the caregiver. A descent is a
kind of human experience that many have but many do not have. It always involve a dismantling of the self
and prolonged suffering. It leads to
the creation of something new, to the attainment of new gifts. Not only does the individual evolve to a new
version of themselves, but they bring something new and important to the
community.
What would be the evolutionary purpose of dementia for the
community, for the species? Dementia alters
consciousness by altering the brain.
Although it damages familiar landmarks of consciousness, it may make
possible other attainments of consciousness.
There are many phenomena that suggest that shutting down
some brain functions may pave the way for new insights and abilities. Examples include: terminal lucidity as discussed above, comas that lead to OBEs or
NDEs, brain scans that show that people under anesthesia have increased brain
activity and are responding to visual cues (see 5 Dec 11 post); psychotherapy
that uses psychedelics to heal; and traumatic brain injury that leads to the
psychic opening of professional psychics and mediums.
It may be that people with dementia have more of certain
kinds of consciousness, and are, therefore, not only able to do advantageous
work on their own growth and healing, but may be able to promote the
community’s growth and healing.
In many cases of dementia, there seems to be increased
communication with other parts of reality.
Maybe this is beneficial for the community as well. For example, the recounting of inspiring or
informative encounters with other beings can trigger big life changes in people
who hear of them.
In some cases of dementia, the person seems briefly or
sporadically to attain a prophet-like condition during which they may shed even
more light on the nature of human existence.
If they are contributing to healing any trauma in their
lineage, that would certainly benefit other family members and descendants.
There may be other evolutionary purposes. Although we can generalize, each instance of
dementia is a unique developmental path for that individual and the caregivers,
which has the potential to create something brand new.
Could we possibly ease the experience of having dementia or
caring for it if we tried to look for the psychospiritual purposes, and work
more proactively with any psi that might occur? Believing in, valuing, and explaining people’s psi experiences
can have a mighty impact on their mental stability, sense of meaning, and
ability to function. Training and
education in this aspect of dementia care could make a difference for everyone
involved. We could start by collecting
insights about dementia and psi from around the world and ancient times, and
then build on that.
===============
If you have a psi anecdote about a person with dementia or
their caregiver, please comment below or email me. Also, please contact me if you know of anyone who has tried
high-dose Omega-3 for dementia.
===============
*Thanks to Cinnamon Moon, Forum Founder,
spiritlodge.yuku.com, for the epigraph.
===============
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