Historian Jesse F. Ballenger lines the emergence of senility as a cultural classification from the past due 19th century to the Nineteen Eighties, a interval within which Alzheimer's illness grew to become more and more linked to the terrifying prospect of wasting one's self. adjustments in American society and tradition have advanced the thought of selfhood, Ballenger reveals. not an ascribed prestige, selfhood needs to be conscientiously and willfully built. therefore, wasting one's skill to maintain a coherent self-narrative is taken into account one in all life's such a lot dreadful losses. As Ballenger writes "senility haunts the panorama of the self-made man."

Stereotypes of senility and Alzheimer's illness are with regards to anxiousness in regards to the coherence, balance, and organization of the self―stereotypes which are remodeling perceptions of outdated age in smooth the US.

Drawing on medical, scientific, coverage, and renowned discourses on getting older and dementia, Ballenger explores early twentieth-century recommendations of getting older and the emergence of gerontology to appreciate and distinguish basic getting older from illness. additionally, he examines American psychiatry's methods to the therapy of senility and medical makes an attempt to appreciate the mind pathology of dementia.

Ballenger's paintings contributes to our figuring out of the emergence and importance of dementia as a massive wellbeing and fitness issue.