摘要
老年痴呆症是老年人所患各类痴呆症的统称,可导致记忆、日常生活、学习、语言交流和情感控制等能力的后天性全面损害。19世纪之前,英国对其认知局限于零散的症状描述。19世纪30年代出现固定称谓,广泛应用于医学著作和机构,病理方面的专业研究也有所丰富。然而直到19世纪末,老年痴呆症的诊断仍欠明确,病态与自然衰老之间缺乏准确界定。这直接反映在患者的安置问题上——家庭、疯人院和济贫院等机构从自身立场出发各执一词,强调老年痴呆症的不同内涵。老年痴呆症“成为疾病”的过程,也正处于近代西方医疗扩大化、人类生命周期医学化的趋势过程中。
Senile dementia is a general term for all kinds of dementia in the elderly,which can lead to acquired impairment of memory,daily life,learning,language communication,and emotional control.Before the 19th century,knowledge of it in Britain was limited to fragmentary descriptions of symptoms.In the 1930s,the fixed appellation appeared,which was widely used in medical works and institutions.And there was also a wealth of specialized research in pathology.Until the end of the 19th century,however,the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease was still unclear,and there was a lack of an accurate definition between pathological and natural aging.This was directly reflected in the placement of patients—families and institutions such as asylums and workhouses had each taken their own positions,emphasizing the different connotations of senile dementia.The process of senile dementia’s‘becoming a disease’was also in the midst of a trend towards the expansion of modern Western medicine and the medicalization of the human life cycle.
出处
《医疗社会史研究》
2022年第2期137-156,330,共21页
Journal of Social History of Medicine and Health
作者简介
张君言,中国人民大学历史学院博士研究生
