Our Irrational Fear of Forgetting

By MARGARET MORGANROTH GULLETTE
NYT

Waltham, Mass.

IN our hypercognitive society, fear of forgetfulness has made deep inroads into the psyche. Misplacing car keys, once considered mere absent-mindedness, is now a clinical symptom. Technological ineptitude in the prime of adulthood is ascribed to memory failure.

The mere whiff of perceived memory loss can have terrible consequences in an insecure economy in which midlife workers are regularly (and illegally) laid off on account of their age. This epidemic of anxiety around memory loss is so strong that many older adults seek help for the kind of day-to-day forgetfulness that once was considered normal.

Greater public awareness of Alzheimer’s, far from reducing the ignorance and stigma around the disease, has increased it. People over 55 dread getting Alzheimer’s more than any other disease, according to a 2010 survey by the MetLife Foundation. The fact that only 1 in 8 Americans older than 65 has Alzheimer’s fails to register.

Is the prospect of the disease so horrifying that it should prompt someone to consider suicide? A writer I know whose mother had Alzheimer’s told me she is stockpiling pills. An academic told me he has found someone who will help him die “before I lose my mind.”

(More here.)