Fins Joseph J
J Alzheimers Dis. 2015;48(1):59-61. doi: 10.3233/JAD-150354.
Using critical methods drawn from clinical ethics and the humanities, the author considers the posthumously published The Reagan Diaries and suggests that they show evidence of an incipient dementia. In the wake of Berisha et al.'s analysis of presidential press conferences during the Reagan presidency, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, that were suggestive of cognitive impairment, this reading of the president's diaries merit additional scrutiny. Diary entries from Reagan's second term differ from the first years of his presidency. They demonstrate less text, more laconic analysis, word finding difficulties, evidence of spatial confusion and suggestions of disinhibition, all possibly early signs of cognitive impoverishment during the same period when the transcripts of his second term press conferences showed evidence suggestive of incipient Alzheimer's Disease. While a definitive analysis of the president's diaries can not be performed on the abridged published text, edited by the historian Douglas Brinkley, these findings are suggestive and warrant additional scrutiny. By melding quantitative approaches analyzing language use from Reagan's presidential press conferences with methods from clinical ethics and literary criticism, future scholars can gain a fuller understanding of the president's health while he was in office.
作者运用临床伦理学和人文学科的批判性方法，对死后出版的《里根日记》进行了研究，并指出日记显示出早期痴呆症的迹象。在贝里沙等人发表于《阿尔茨海默病杂志》上对里根总统任期内总统新闻发布会的分析暗示存在认知障碍之后，对总统日记的这种解读值得进一步审视。里根第二任期的日记条目与他总统任期的头几年有所不同。它们的文本更少，分析更简洁，存在找词困难、空间认知混乱的迹象以及行为抑制解除的表现，所有这些都可能是认知衰退的早期迹象，而与此同时，他第二任期新闻发布会的文字记录显示出早期阿尔茨海默病的迹象。虽然无法依据由历史学家道格拉斯·布林克利编辑的删节版公开文本对总统日记进行确定性分析，但这些发现具有启发性，值得进一步审视。通过将分析里根总统新闻发布会语言使用的定量方法与临床伦理学和文学批评方法相结合，未来的学者能够更全面地了解总统在职期间的健康状况。
