Dr Christina Ilse
- admin1356
- Dec 10, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 10, 2024
For Clinical Neuropsychologist Dr Christina Ilse, the TV series The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes was an opportunity to see in practice what she recommends to patients.
“I always say to people when they first get a diagnosis of dementia, I don’t want you to go home and sit on the couch. That is not what this is about. It doesn't mean that you need to withdraw. You should do the opposite. So, the show was a really beautiful example of drawing people together.”
The second season of the TV series focused on people living with younger onset dementia, running a restaurant lead by chef Ben Bayly and his team.
“A diagnosis of young onset dementia is a real shock because people aren’t expecting to have a neurodegenerative condition that we associate with ageing. They are not expecting that early on in their life, so it is a devasting diagnosis,” says Christina.
“Knowledge is power, right? So, if you know that you have a condition that will progress over time, then it gives you the opportunity to do and plan and act and see that there are still so many good, positive quality of life things that happen. The show is the epitome of that.”
“It was really lovely to witness how some people's confidence grew as time went on. People had skills they probably haven't accessed in a while, and when they got into a supported environment where they were encouraged to just give it a go, all those skills were still there. So that was really awesome,” says Christina.
The restaurant experiment highlighted to Christina how great the need for age-appropriate services is for this group of people.
“Alot of services are geared towards older people with the more moderate to severe dementia, and so the people who are younger and diagnosed early might have mild to moderate symptoms, and it's that group who don't have the support networks available to them. We don't fund those things. We barely fund the things that are dire and life threatening.”
Despite the lack of funding, Christina believes that support is crucial not just for the individual living with younger onset dementia but for their families too.
“In many ways the whole family carries the burden of having dementia move into the house uninvited and having to deal with the impact. It’s important for people living with dementia to have support, but the people supporting them need to feel connected and have a shared understanding and almost a shared burden of what is happening in their families,” says Christina.
Christina would love to see The Restaurant that Makes Mistakes become more than a television experiment.
“It would be amazing in society if people were still able to be involved in activities that match their current functioning level after diagnosis.”
Research shows the three factors that can reduce the risk of developing dementia and reduce the rate of decline are cognitive, physical and social activity. While it’s not surprising that cognitive and physical activity are instrumental in slowing the decline, it’s less clear why social activity also contributes to that equation.
“There are theories around people who are socially engaged, are less likely to be depressed. Depression is a risk factor for dementia. When people have social connections, they maintain the neural connections in the brain. When we look at people, we read facial expressions, and we mirror people's emotion. So that's one reason why it's really important from a neural perspective, but also, of course, from a quality-of-life perspective. When people feel happy, they are generally healthier, and life is better.”
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