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Illness, Myth, and Metaphor: Alzheimer’s in Context

Notes by Lea Phillips, edited by Ruth Spack

Illness as Metaphor

Throughout history, human beings have always found ways to rationalize the diseases that plague their lives. The ancient Greeks thought Nosoi, the spirits that escaped Pandora’s Box, caused sickness under Zeus’s command. In Islamic tradition, schizophrenia and epilepsy were sometimes attributed to creatures made of smoke-less fire—Jinn, or Genies—who were thought to have the ability to possess humans. In the Middle Ages, some thought The Black Death was God’s punishment for people’s sinful ways, while others thought it was caused by an imbalance of humors. Even after the scientific revolution, there was a hesitancy to integrate contemporary research into mainstream beliefs. Unlike previous myths that blamed disease on external forces, new conceptions blamed the sufferers for their afflictions. For example, tuberculosis, one of history’s deadliest diseases, was attributed more to the invalid’s personality than the actual infection. As Susan Sontag explains in Illness as Metaphor (1978), TB was believed to come from “too much passion, afflicting the reckless and sensual.” The realities of the disease were obfuscated by popular mythology that depicted TB patients as sensitive romantics who had lost the will to live.

Each disease has its own symbolic baggage, shaped by societal influences. While TB was attributed to excessive passion, cancer was often attributed to repressed emotions—a result of the modern obsession with psychoanalysis. According to Sontag, many people believed cancer was a disease of “insufficient passion, afflicting those who are sexually repressed, inhibited, unspontaneous, incapable of expressing anger.” This idea posited cancer as a punishment for not acting on one’s desires and implied the patient’s symptoms could subside with will power.

Even the way people speak about disease can transform it from an infection or tumor to an evil force to be reckoned with. Cancer imagery has historically been used as a rhetorical device to vilify an ideology or group. Leon Trotsky called Stalinism the cancer of Marxism. Hitler considered Jews to be the cancer of Germany. White House counsel John Dean warned President Richard Nixon, “We have a cancer within, close to the Presidency, that’s growing.” Recently, Al Arabiya News published an article titled “The Cancer That Is the ISIS.” Such comparisons position cancer as the embodiment of all that is wrong in the world. The medical details of the disease are shrouded in a dark mystique, which is harmful to the sick. Susan Sontag argues that “as long as a particular disease is treated as an evil, invincible predator, not just a disease, most people with cancer will be demoralized.” They must deal not only with the actual symptoms but also with the taboos the rhetoric creates.

Alzheimer’s and Its Stigmas

More than five million people in the United States are living with Alzheimer’s disease, a form of dementia, five percent of whom are under age sixty-five. It is estimated that by 2024, the number will increase by forty percent. Two-thirds of Alzheimer’s victims are women. First-degree relatives have increased risk for developing the disease, which means that familial caregivers not only have to help their relatives navigate their illness but must also deal with the fear of their own susceptibility. While the growing rate of Alzheimer’s could be attributed to increased longevity, modern lifestyle choices are often blamed. Yet scientific studies have failed to confirm any role for suspected culprits—aluminum, aspartame, flu shots, silver dental fillings—in causing the disease.

The word dementia derives from the Latin demens, dement, which means “out of one’s mind,” a term that suggests madness or derangement and which speaks volumes about the negative cultural attitudes toward the condition. Wittingly or unwittingly, J.K. Rowling created a detrimental mythology surrounding dementia in the Harry Potter universe, where dark foul creatures called “dementors” suck the life out of wizards, leaving their victims in a permanent vegetative state. First-hand testimonies reveal the devastating effects of stigmatization. Many people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s say their condition is perceived as a shortcoming rather than an illness. They report feeling ostracized by others, as if Alzheimer’s were infectious. Unfortunately, until a treatment is discovered to cure or delay the progression of Alzheimer’s, myths surrounding it are likely to persist.

Persistence of Myth and Metaphor

Every illness that has struck humanity has been accompanied by myths and metaphors in search of someone or something to blame. Susan Sontag remarks, “it seems as though societies need to have one illness which becomes identified with evil and attaches blame to its victims.” As researchers learn more about individual diseases, the myths associated with them become less potent. Yet, despite medical advances, we cling to metaphor, perhaps because knowing the minute details of a disease’s fatal attack does not provide comfort. The idea that we have no control over our body’s functions is a direct affront to the sense of autonomy we carry throughout our lives. Sontag suggests the myths can provide a sense of control. But perhaps these stories surrounding disease are created not by the sick but by the bystanders and caretakers who, through connection with the ill, are reminded of their own mortality. Myths are born out of the need to find solace and make sense of the universe. They reflect our deepest fears about the fragility of existence. By avoiding the forces or behaviors that cause disease, the healthy believe, they will be safe.

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