Blog: The Brain Dialogues, filtered by tag: Opinion

25 Sep 2017

OPINION by Peter Chittenden, Managing Director Colliers International - Residential

Opinion by Peter Chittenden, Managing Director Colliers International - Residential
Peter Chittenden, Managing Director Colliers International - Residential
This article was originally published in the Australian Financial Review on 21 September 2017 (World Alzheimer’s Day) It is no secret that Australia has a rapidly ageing population, with those aged above 65 set to make up over 20% of the population within 10 years’ time1. While this is good news for the property industry as development in the aged care and retirement living space is critical, a crucial factor that requires direct consideration across the industry is that currently around 52% of all permanent residents in care have a diagnosis of dementia2. Dementia is now the second leading… Read More
28 Aug 2014

Suicide and Middle Aged Men

HEIDI DOUGLASS | h.douglass@unsw.edu.au Since the devastating death of respected American comedian Robin Williams nearly three weeks ago, the internet has been rife with speculation on the underlying factors behind this tragedy.  Respectfully, this conjecture should be left as a matter for his family and physicians, but what the rest of us can do to honour this remarkable personality who warmed the hearts of many generations is strive to increase awareness and understanding of clinical depression and its significant relationship to brain diseases and ageing.  In a recent interview with SBS… Read More
16 Apr 2014

The Good-ish News About Alzheimer's Disease

ADELE HORIN Of all the things Australians fear, cancer is number one and dementia is number two. For me the order is reversed. I’ve had cancer (radiation, chemotherapy, lumpectomy). I’ve seen people die of cancer. It’s not easy or pretty. But I’ve also seen people die slowly of dementia – whether Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia, it doesn’t matter. Dementia holds a particular horror because it robs people of their intellect, their personality, their memory, their speech, their essential self. Cancer sufferers, on the other hand, remain recognisably themselves through the experience,… Read More
12 Aug 2013

Older Citizens Need Information To Be Good Aged-Care Customers

DR LEE-FAY LOW, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW AT THE DEMENTIA COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH CENTRE ASSESSMENT AND BETTER CARE This article was originally published as an opinion piece in The Conversation. Community-care packages have traditionally been case-managed packages of services for older people requiring residential care but wanting to stay in their home. Since July 1, all new community-care packages in Australia have become consumer directed, which means that, within an allocated budget, the older person will choose the services they want. The adage that the customer is always right presumes… Read More
18 Jun 2013

Fasting for a Longer Healthy Life: Is There a Scientific Basis?

PROFESSOR PERMINDER SACHDEV, MD, PhD Fasting has a long tradition in most cultures and religions. Lord Buddha exhorted his followers to not eat the evening meal, attributing his good health and “of being without illness and of buoyancy and strength” to this practice. Fasting was ritualised in many aspects of Christianity and Judaism, and became the fourth of the five pillars of Islam. Religious fasting was intertwined with ritual and spiritual discipline, and became a form of penitence and identification with the poor and unfortunate. The health benefits of fasting were not lost on the… Read More
23 Apr 2013

Mental Disorders: Debunking Some Myths of the DSM-5

PROFESSOR PERMINDER SACHDEV, MD, PhD This article was originally published as an opinion piece in The Conversation. The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) is due to hit psychiatrists' and psychologists' shelves next month. Produced by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the DSM provides a standardised system of diagnosing mental disorders. From its first edition in 1952, and with each new edition about every 15 to 20 years, the DSM has always had its critics. But as the arrival of DSM-5 approaches, their clamour is becoming louder. As… Read More
19 Mar 2013

Has the Term 'Dementia' Outlived its Usefulness?

PROFESSOR PERMINDER SACHDEV MD, PHD I invite you to imagine a world without 'dementia'. It is not that I have found a cure for all so-called dementias, or discovered a strategy to prevent them in the future. I am referring to the term 'dementia' from Latin demens, (meaning without mind) which has done much disservice to patients and physicians for far too long [1]. Should it not follow 'neurosis' into classificatory oblivion? Most clinicians and researchers accept that neurocognitive disorders lie on a continuum, ranging from very mild impairment almost indistinguishable from normal ageing… Read More