"Second Forgetting" by Dr. Benjamin T. Mast. A Review

 

I've run across it numerous times in my adult life. From extended family to hospice chaplain to the three Presbyterian churches where I have served. Inevitably there will be people in my life with dementia/Alzheimer's. Thus, a few years back I picked up a copy of "Second Forgetting: Remembering the power of the Gospel during Alzheimer's Disease" by Dr. Benjamin T. Mast, professor and chair of the department of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Though I didn't read it back when I purchased it, I found it floating around my library recently and decided it was time. And I was not disappointed! This 192-page softback is straightforward in it's presentation, easily comprehended, and filled with hope for both those who have dementia and their caregivers.

Dr. Mast walks readers through the physical and emotional process of dementia, and one of it's major manifestations, Alzheimer's. The description of what happens to the brain, as well as the three basic areas of remembering, was very helpful. He further gives guidance to those facing this disease that impacts memory, to caregivers, and to the church. It is packed with valuable details, stories, and perspectives that can aid all involved in seeing the bigger picture and restoring some sense of focus. 

The title of the book is explained early on and gives readers a conceptual idea as to where the author is coming from and where he is going: "The first forgetting is experienced by the person with Alzheimer's, but the second forgetting reflects a spiritual forgetting experienced not only by the person with Alzheimer's, but more broadly by their family, friends, and even the church who seeks to care for them" (18). The second forgetting is forgetting that God is always faithful to his promises and his people, and that, no matter if we lose our way, he will never lose us on the way! In the words of Scotty Smith, who wrote the foreword, "God's love is the only love that will never let us go. We're not saved by our own memory; we are saved by the God who remembers us, by the memory of a great God of grace and mercy" (10).

"Second Forgetting" is chock-full of encouragement, direction, and "remembering". "Ask the Lord to help you see the person with dementia as God sees them: not as a bunch of deficits, but as one of his children redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ" (100). This is a book pastors, elders, caregivers, and those diagnosed with dementia need to take up and read. Several copies should be on your church book table, or in your library to be easily and liberally handed out. I highly recommend the work!