Do people with severe alzheimers dementia have souls? can you explain how you know if your answer is yes?

Answer 1

If you believe in the soul, and if you believe that the soul is found in the mere existence of life, then the fact that one is losing brain function would speak to a long painful death of the soul. I called that purgatory (an oddly catholic concept, I know) and reckoned it to be the greater evil of my mother's slide into Alzheimer's. I wondered as Terry Schiavo made headlines, if her soul remained in that withered brain, or if she had already moved on (or out.)

I do know that well into her illness my mother responded to the sound of familiar prayers when nothing else would calm the agitation.

Answer 2

A "soul" is the part of a person which contains their mind, will and emotions. It has both a physical and a spiritual part to it. It can be affected by a person physical condition. Such as the emotional "roller coaster" many women go through with their monthly cycle. Or by depression which has a physical root. While those things may impair a person's judgement during those times, they do not lose their "soul". They still have a mind, will and emotions. They just may not be properly functioning.

Most person with dementia had a normal "soul" at some point during their life. A physical illness does not take away their soul. It may affect their ability to properly use it, but the soul is still there. If you had a stroke that caused you to lose the use of a limb, no one would ask you to prove the limb was still there. Just because you lose the use of the "soul" does not take it away.

Answer 3

No. You, me, the person with Alzheimers, a dog, a cat, the president, Al Sharpton...we ARE living souls.

The soul in the Old Testament means not a part of man, but the whole man—man as a living being. Similarly, in the New Testament it signifies human life: the life of an individual, conscious subject.

Genesis 2:7:
And Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul.

Ezekial 18:4
Look! All the souls—to me they belong. As the soul of the father so likewise the soul of the son—to me they belong. The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.

Acts 3: 23
Indeed, any soul that does not listen to that Prophet will be completely destroyed from among the people.

I hope this has helped. You are quite the man.

Answer 4

You clearly have never been around anyone afflicted with such a sad disease.

I have worked many years in nursing homes and Alzheimer units. A disease that corrupts the synaptic connections between brain cells, perhaps a stroke, other disease that compromises brain function; none of these alter who the person/ soul was previously!

The mind and abilities are slowly gone, the walk of faith this person has/ had with God is 100%.

Answer 5

what I find interesting is how people assume that the system of things such as souls and departure and such is so mechanical and limited,

the short answer is that sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. in situations such as that, the soul can depart despite the body still being alive.

Answer 6

yes. faith.

alzheimers deals with the brain. the brain is the link to the soul. the brain is not the soul. your brain is losing memory, your soul is not. your brain is interpretating less data, your soul is recieving less data.