Laura Dewitte

Dementia research has long been dominated by narratives of loss, suffering, and burden. Addressing the challenges caused by dementia is of course crucial, but these perspectives have often overshadowed questions about what people with dementia still experience as positive, meaningful, or worthwhile.

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Drawing on her own research and that of others, Laura will discuss evidence showing that positive psychological experiences, such as meaning and well-being, remain possible in dementia. She will also reflect on the methodological challenges of studying these experiences, including the potential of experience sampling methods to capture well-being in daily life.

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Dementia touches almost everyone in some way, through family, friends, or (future) clinical or research work. This lecture invites the audience to reflect on how the choices we make as researchers and psychologists shape what we come to know about life with dementia.