Impacts of Alzheimer’s Disease on Identity and Potential Therapeutic Approaches for Mitigating Identity Loss

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder that profoundly affects an individual's identity.This review examines the multifaceted aspects of identity and how they are impacted by AD.Identity is constituted by a variety of factors, including cognitive function, morality and autobiographical memory, all of which undergo significant changes as the disease progresses.Qualitative and quantitative approaches have been used to measure these identity-related changes.Cognitive function decline, particularly in learning, reasoning, and attention, is associated with identity changes in AD.Morality is also closely linked to identity and is affected by the biological mechanisms of AD, as seen in responses to moral dilemmas.Autobiographical memory, a key component of identity, is disrupted as well, as evidenced by performance on autobiographical memory interviews and fluency tasks.Finally, this review discusses potential treatments tackling cognitive, moral, and memory impairments to help preserve identity in Alzheimer's patients.