title: The war against dementia: are we battle weary yet?
abstract: Recently, the use of military metaphors when discussing dementia and in particular Alzheimer's disease has increased, both in medical literature and mainstream media. While military metaphors are a recent adoption when used to describe dementia, in oncology there has been longstanding debate about the usefulness of such metaphors. This article reviews the history of military metaphors in medicine, literature discussing their use, and considers their use in describing dementia. While military metaphors are widely used in medicine, consideration should be taken in their use as they have the potential to influence the way we and our patients conceptualise and experience illness and treatment.
authors: Centre for Palliative Care, St Vincent's Hospital (Melbourne), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. heather.lane@svhm.org.au
authors: Heather Patricia
authors: HP
authors: Lane
authors: Sueanne
authors: S
authors: McLachlan
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Philip
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000266:history / Q000628:therapy; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000266:history / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D019365:Metaphor; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014857:Warfare