I work as a nurse’s aide at a local hospital and two weeks ago, I was asked to oversee a patient who was on suicide watch for the duration of my night shift. This gentleman had attempted to take his life and was found passed out so he was brought in to the hospital. For the sake of anonymity, I will refer to this patient with the pseudonym “John”. Through most of the night, he slept soundly but then awoke to see me. It was about 3:00am and he naturally seemed very distressed so I asked him if he would like some water, and I washed his face. Soon after, he began feeling more comfortable in my presence, and began discussing his situation with me.

He was sobbing and began discussing how his girlfriend and family had practically disowned him. He mentioned how this all began when he was accused of robbing a liquor store, and went on trial. The victim recognized him as the attacker, and for the longest time he was sure he would be convicted. His only crime was that he resembled the attacker and he was sitting in his car near the liquor store during the time of the attack. John was eventually found innocent and exonerated as the real culprit was found but the toil and stress brought on by the trial had already affected his life. He has difficulty handling anxiety, and did not take his anxiety medication during this period as well. He was subsequently not able to manage the stress of the whole process and became difficult for his loved ones to support. His girlfriend at the time left him because of these tribulations and his family similarly strayed away.

The conversation made me recall the concept of False Memory and the related Coglab we submitted. The fact that the store owner was sure that John was the culprit illustrates a classic case of False Memory. John merely resembled the actual culprit but with the suggestive, insinuating fact that he was present in the vicinity during the time caused the store owner make the leap to certainty that John was indeed the perpetrator. Things that are relatable, similar or synonymous may present themselves in recall when they are actually false memories. The store owner did just that, and although there wasn’t much evidence to convict him either way since he did not have any of the stolen money on him at the time he was apprehended, the trial did almost indirectly take the life of an innocent man. It illustrates how eye-witness testimony can be very unreliable and furthermore, the troubling consequences of False memory.

Dementia and Music Therapy

                Dementia is a devastating ailment that continues to challenge its sufferers, caregivers and the healthcare system.  In his editorial piece Music Therapy for Dementia, SangNam Ahn writes, “Dementia is defined as loss in short- and long-term memory, associated with impairment in abstract thinking and judgment…and in some cases, personality change” (Ahn). I work as a nurse’s aide in the ICU at a local hospital and have often times had to manage patients suffering from this devastating disease. There is no cure and treatment usually just involves pharmacotherapy that is targeted at treating symptoms and often leaves patients with undesirable side effects that severely affect quality of life. However, I recently stumbled onto a discussion on Democracy Now about a documentary entitled “Alive Inside” that follows social worker Dan Cohen around as he creates personalized iPod playlists for patients who suffer from Dementia at a nursing home facility.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zo_JQZo3Y0

The results certainly shook me to tears.  Some of the examples include Denise, a patient who was using a walker every day for two years, but when introduced to the music of her past, she pushes her walker away, grabs Cohen and begins dancing. Another subject is Henry, a gentleman who has suffered from dementia for a decade and subsequently, rarely spoke to anyone. Most days he would remain mute and assume his usual seating position with his head buried in his hands. However, soon after the music from his younger years was introduced to him, he suddenly becomes animated, his eyes open wide and he begins to sing and dance in his wheelchair. The effects also continue to linger after the headphones are taken off. Henry, who suffers from dysphasia (difficulty speaking) and has great difficulty answering the simplest of “yes or no” questions becomes quiet voluble and articulate.  Cohen states in the video, “Even though Alzheimer’s and various forms of dementia will ravage many parts of the brain, long-term memory of music from when one was young remains very often. So if you tap that, you really get that kind of awakening response. It’s pretty exciting to see” (Cohen).  Alzheimer’s and patients who suffer from other forms of Dementia often cling onto memories of the past and generally have a sound long term memory.  Although this is usually most effective with patients with lesser forms of dementia, music can open these individuals up to discuss places, people and events from their past.  This form of therapy can activate areas of the brain that seem otherwise inaccessible.

I have gone as far to present the studies from this documentary to my nursing supervisor in hopes to implementing it into patient care plans on the unit. Our unit is often frequented by elderly psych patients, and I suggested that we speak with family members regarding what type of music these individuals enjoyed during the course of their life and use that information to construct personalized playlists. The proposal is still in the process of being approved, but I am curious to see it implemented and the results, if any, they will bring. I will keep those who are interested updated on the process.

Citations:

Halpern, A. R. (2012). DEMENTIA AND MUSIC: CHALLENGES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS. Music Perception, 29(5), 543-545. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1030383187?accountid=13158

Ahn, Sangnam, and Sato Ashida. “Music Therapy for Dementia.” Maturitas 71.1 (2012): 6-7. Print.

“Alive Inside: How the Magic of Music Proves Therapeutic for Patients with Alzheimer’s and Dementia.” Democracy Now! N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. <http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/22/alive_inside_how_the_magic_of>.

Heuristics are useful mental shortcuts and rules of thumb that provide a best-guess solution to a problem (Goldstein). They are essential to efficient cognitive function and help us quickly make judgments. Without access to these functions, we would not be able to leave our homes in the morning because we would be forced to conduct a thorough examination of everything around us. However, these processes don’t always lead to accurate assumptions and are often responsible for bad decisions. I have certainly been guilty of making inaccurate assumptions due to relying on faulty heuristics but in the following paragraphs I will delve more deeply into how I have become a victim of people’s faulty assumptions.

I am a follower of Sikhism, a religion erected 500 years ago in Northern India. We don articles of faith that include long uncut hair which is wrapped in a turban. Following the devastating 9/11 tragedy, the only turbaned figures found in American media were those of Islamic extremists. People naturally began attributing the image of bearded, turbaned men with Islam, and others went as far to assume that everyone who dons such an image is a terrorist. In fact, the word “terrorist” in itself became synonymous with this image. I was lucky to live in a relatively liberal and educated area but even then most people believed that I was Muslim or Hindu and a select few would even yell racial slurs at my family and I when we were out in public. The assumptions were based on media reports and the wide spread Islamophobia at the time. However, the fact is that 99 percent of turbaned individuals worldwide are members of the Sikh faith (Jacobsen). The mental shortcuts people applied resulted in inaccurate assumptions and it is important to understand the downfalls of heuristics.

Heuristics are invaluable and a perfect mechanism for many problems but for other situations, they can lead to inaccurate assumptions and individuals should be conscious of this in order to over-ride this automatic process. We are not passive viewers of the world, and heuristics are sometimes susceptible to causing faulty perceptions of reality.

Jacobsen, Knut A., and Kristina Myrvold. “Sikhizing the Sikhs.” Sikhs across Borders: Transnational Practices of European Sikhs. New York: Bloomsbury, 2012. 152-53. Print.

Goldstein, E. Bruce. “Chapter 3: Perception.” Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. 3rd ed. Australia: Thomson Wadsworth, 2008. N. pag. Print.