The war against dementia: Are we battle weary yet?

Abstract

Recently, the use of military metaphors when discussing dementia and in particular Alzheimer's disease has increased, both in medical literature and mainstream media. While military metaphors are a recent adoption when used to describe dementia, in oncology there has been longstanding debate about the usefulness of such metaphors. This article reviews the history of military metaphors in medicine, literature discussing their use, and considers their use in describing dementia. While military metaphors are widely used in medicine, consideration should be taken in their use as they have the potential to influence the way we and our patients conceptualise and experience illness and treatment. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved.