“Is your family worried about your forgetfulness?” Contrasting perceptions in the context of a dementia diagnosis

Rachel Buckley is an Alzheimer’s Australia Postdoctoral Fellow, in the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Her study on mild cognitive impairment is published in the current issue of Age & Ageing. She tweets at @bucklr01

It is very common and quite normal to forget where you left your glasses. Although this might happen to you with relative and increasing frequency, concerns of this nature do not necessarily signal the starting point of a dementia. It is no secret that when it comes to your perceptions of yourself, an outsider’s perspective – particularly from someone who knows you well -can be very informative. When considering your concerns of your own forgetfulness, this is particularly the case.