“Ethical and Social Issues in Frontotemporal Dementia” with Dr. Veljko Dubljevic

Carolina Seminar on Philosophy, Ethics, and Mental Health

“Ethical and Social Issues in Frontotemporal Dementia” with Dr. Veljko Dubljevic

Event Description:

Behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia is characterized by an absence of obvious cognitive impairment and presence of symptoms such as disinhibition, social inappropriateness, personality changes, hyper-sexuality, and hyper-orality. Affected individuals do not feel concerned enough about their actions to be deterred from violating social norms, and their antisocial behaviours are most likely caused by the neurodegenerative processes in the frontal and anterior temporal lobes. These patients present a challenge for the traditional notion of autonomy and the medical and criminal justice systems. In this talk, I will discuss reconceptualizations of autonomy which could be sufficiently redefined to provide explicit rules and offer nuanced guidance in such cases. Additionally, I will review recent empirical findings on whether the widespread fear of dementia is exacerbated by the media coverage of this condition. 

Event held via Zoom:. Contact daniel_moseley@med.unc.edu for Zoom link.

Presented by Philosophy and Psychiatry Research Group and sponsored by Carolina Seminars.