The twilight of psychic life

This book describes the role of the clinical psychologist in working with people suffering from dementia of the Alzheimer's and related type in residential care facilities for the elderly. My encounter with elderly people diagnosed with dementia by medical science is first and foremost about understanding them as subjects. This book questions the legitimacy of the clinical psychologist's place vis-à-vis neuropsychology in this very special clinical field. This involves considering the different conceptions of dementia from neurology to psychoanalysis. By means of a case study I wanted to shed light from a phenomenological perspective on the density of presence and the nature of the bond between patient and clinician. Through supportive psychotherapy and analysis of dementia processes the possibility of recreating memory within this dyad emerges. This work was originally written as part of the Master 2 professionnel de psychologie clinique et psychopathologie at Université Denis Diderot - Paris 7.