People living with dementia (incl. alzheimer’s disease) continue to feel happy or sad long after the memory of the event that triggered the emotion has faded. Researchers said people living with dementia are “… profoundly impacted emotionally by events that they cannot recall …” and that this has implications for family carers.
The worse the patients’ memory the longer the feeling of sadness persisted for, it was found, suggesting that being unable to remember what made you sad makes it more difficult to lift the mood. This is contrary to popular belief that if you erase the painful memory then the depression will ease also. To read the article click here.