When a Culture Forgets Its Elders: Dementia as a Collective Symptom

In many Western societies, dementia is viewed as a purely medical condition—an unfortunate, degenerative process that strikes individuals as they age. But what if it’s not just biological? What if dementia, in part, is also a cultural disease—a mirror reflecting how we treat the elders among us, and what we’ve collectively forgotten about our shared humanity?

I’ve been sitting with this question lately:

Is there a connection between how a culture views its elders and the rising rates of dementia within it?

All signs point to yes.

The Elders Were Never Meant to Be Set Aside

There are cultures where elders are the heart of the family—keepers of memory, wisdom, and continuity. In many Indigenous, Eastern, and ancestral societies, aging is not feared—it is revered. Elders live with their children and grandchildren, not apart. They teach, guide, and are woven into the everyday rhythm of life. In these cultures, memory is preserved not just in the mind but in the rituals, stories, songs, and respect passed down through generations.

Compare this to a Western reality, where youth is idealized, and aging is something to resist or hide. Where elders often live alone or in institutions, removed from the community. Where older adults are seen less as sages and more as burdens.

Is it any wonder, then, that our minds, too, begin to forget?

The Science of Connection

Neuroscience tells us that human connection and a sense of purpose are protective factors against cognitive decline. Social isolation, loneliness, and disempowerment aren’t just emotional wounds—they are physiological threats to the brain.

We now know that:

• Older adults who remain socially active have significantly lower dementia risk.

• Having a defined role in family or community life supports emotional wellbeing and neuroplasticity.

• Chronic disempowerment and invisibility can accelerate decline—emotionally, spiritually, and mentally.

What if the rising rates of dementia are not just a matter of biology, but of culture? What if they are symptoms of a society that has lost its memory of what elders mean to us?

A Tale of Two Worlds

In places like Okinawa, Japan—one of the Blue Zones known for longevity—elders are called “treasures of the community.” They participate in daily life, contribute to group decisions, and are seen as essential.

In contrast, many elders in the West live in isolation, surrounded by silence instead of laughter, obligation instead of reverence.

What story are we telling, generation after generation, about the value of a life once it slows down?

Remembering What We've Forgotten

This isn’t about blaming Western culture. It’s about remembering.

It’s about seeing dementia not only as an individual illness but as a collective forgetting—an externalization of our abandonment of slowness, ritual, wisdom, and ancestral reverence.

It’s about wondering if our elders are losing their memories because we stopped asking them to share them.

An Invitation

What might happen if we changed the story?

If we stopped seeing elders as problems to manage, and began seeing them as voices to learn from?

If we reintegrated them into the daily heartbeat of life, not as afterthoughts but as guiding lights?

Maybe, just maybe, the mind wouldn’t need to forget so much.

Maybe our communities—and our consciousness—could remember something vital we've nearly lost:

That we are each part of a lineage. That wisdom doesn’t die with age. That the memory of a people is stored not only in history books, but in the soft, weathered hands of those who’ve lived long enough to know what matters most.