Conclusion

At the outset, we asked two questions: How might the lived experiences of a person with a dementia diagnosis be different when framed in terms of dementia health? And to what extent must race, culture, and community be considered in dementia grief experiences? At this point on our journey, it should be evident that more attention must be paid to integrating losses – individually and collectively. For policymakers reading this, you will see where it is necessary to increase funding for grief-informed therapies. Professionals will see the value in including grief questionnaires into your dementia screenings. Inclusion of grief assessment in dementia health screening is an absolute must if we are going to live in a world where we continue to transcend the narrative of tragedy into one of thriving. Individuals will be motivated to begin or continue the work of integrating unmetabolized traumas. In any just society, public awareness on trauma and unmetabolized grief as a modifiable risk factor for dementia development must be identified. In short, the proposed therapy model could potentially be used to shift the experiences of some people living with dementia symptoms from suffering to thriving. We will also briefly explore how a yogic science or Ayurvedic medicine lens may offer promise for balancing the systems stuck in a loop of retraumatizing. If indeed grief, or a traumatic emotional injury (TEI), has as deleterious of effects on the mind–body functioning as is increasingly evidenced by TBI, then in line with GAP, the relationships between trauma, grief, and dementia must be more thoroughly investigated.