Constructing the Alzheimer Patient: Bridging the Gap between Symptomatology and Diagnosis

Identifying a tipping point that might draw a distinction between normal and
pathological ageing is a diffi cult task. This paper reviews various steps that lead
to establishing a diagnosis of dementia disorders as it is done in a memory clinic. It
analyses the way different data is collected in the patient’s daily life. The steps, including
a patient’s neurological status, neuropsychological tests and MRI, are interwoven with
regard to identifying Alzheimer’s disease. The mild cognitive impairment category
that emerges from this process appears as a grey zone, useful to the practitioners
and patients despite the controversies underlying the concept. By questioning the
performative dynamic stemming from the encounters between patients with cognitive
concerns and professionals, this paper intends to fi nd out how this activity contributes
to the standardization of the disease outlines, and how this process contributes to
separating ageing signs from a pathological way of becoming aged.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, ageing, diagnosis process