The Lived Body in E-motion: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Dementia Diseases

Although dementia diseases constitute one of our central social challenges, a comprehensive phenomenological psychopathology of dementia diseases is, until now, a desideratum. The phenomenological approach to dementia does not primarily investigate a neurodegenerative disease of the brain but a psycho- and socio-degenerative illness embracing the subjective experience of people with dementia within their social environment. In order to fruitfully link theory and practice as well as diagnoses and resources, a phenomenological approach to dementia is anchored by the lived body and the lifeworld experience. This contribution is structured in four parts. The first part reflects on general methodological questions which are crucial for an inter- and transdisciplinary account of dementia diseases, ultimately helping to refine our understanding of applied phenomenology. This leads us to the lifeworld basis of every caring interaction and communication: the therapeutic field. The second part reflects on the role of embodiment within the philosophical debate on dementia par excellence: the critical relation between memory and identity. On this basis, we examine the fundamental role of the lived body in e-motion in more detail by referring to central phenomenological concepts such as orientation, kinaesthesia, synaesthesia, and intercorporeality in the third part as well as interpersonal affectivity, affordance, resonance, and atmosphere in the fourth part.