What I learned from Still Alice

 

 

 

    To learn more about early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, I watched the film Still Alice. This movie is about a woman and her family finding out that she has early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. It takes you through the journey and struggles she personally faces as well as struggles with her family. In this movie, it gives very accurate information and can portray all the challenges and emotions very clearly. I choose this movie because I have heard great things about it, early-onset Alzheimer’s disease was a condition I did not know much about, and I really enjoy watching new movies. 

I gained a better understanding about early-onset Alzheimer’s disease from this movie. The information presented in this movie strengthened my understanding on symptoms and what the rate of progression of this disease can look like. Something that stood out to me in the movie was a scene where Alice had forgotten where her bathroom was in her own home and had and accident because of that. This helped me understand how distressing this disease can be for the client. To further my learning, as I looked more into the film,  I realized that the writers/directors were married and one of them was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) months before they started on the film. There was an article I read, and it explains that even though this movie is about another condition than the writers/directors were dealing with, they understood how to project real emotion of such a devastating disease.

As a future OT this movie has helped me understand the importance of checking in on clients emotionally and helping the client and family with coping strategies. I highly recommend watching this movie to understand why it is so critical to support loved ones when they are dealing with such a life altering disease. Below is a link to rent this movie but you can also find it with a Hulu or Starz subscription. A link to read the article about the film writers/directors is also below.

 

Watch Still Alice

 

Read about the Writers/Directors

 

Reference:

Westmoreland, W., & Glatzer, R. (2014). Still Alice. Sony Pictures Classics.