Literature and Medicine: Dementia

Due to demographic change, dementia and related illnesses have become more apparent in our everyday lives. This is also apparent in the many books dealing with this illness and with the outlook facing those affected in the world of the supposedly healthy. This article looks at selected authors and what motivated them to make dementia the subject of a literary story and deals with the question about whether literature can contribute toward a better medical understanding of dementia and help us to deal better with those suffering from this illness.