Importance of promoting trauma‐informed dementia therapies in a pandemic World: Building on person‐centered practices

Abstract

AbstractFor people living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD), who are ages 65 and greater, and who are living in a COVID‐19 era have been labeled the most vulnerable among us. And yet, the pandemic holds a unique opportunity for members of this subgroup of our global population, to interact with stress in a previously unimagined way, thereby highlighting the importance of adopting trauma‐informed therapies. Although it is anticipated that 152.8 million people will be living with dementia by 2050, the pandemic is presenting a real opportunity to turn the tide. Although the bulk of research on delivering trauma‐informed yoga therapies has focused on veterans and people experiencing PTSD, this research makes a strong case for policy implementation of a systematic trauma‐informed yoga therapy program to be delivered to people living with dementia. Further, it has been suggested that participation in a 3‐month yoga and meditation program can prevent dementia development. Given the appropriate support systems, the stresses of COVID‐19 can support healthy neuronal rewiring. Stress augments the plasticity capacity of the brain’s structural and functional mechanisms. It is imperative however that within this proposed model of dementia therapy, for stress to be monitored by a trained trauma‐informed therapist to the extent that practices are not retraumatizing. For people living with ADRD, having their stresses individually dosed in a way to facilitate memory growth, thereby increasing one’s healthspan, is possible so long as stress hormones are maintained at a moderate level so as to facilitate, rather than suppress memory.