Psychology B
Memory revision
Case Study – M=
ary
McSween
Mary is 87 years old=
and
recently moved into a residential home. Before moving into the home, she li=
ved
with her 58 year old daughter Ann. Mary has three other children, a daughte=
r,
the eldest, who lives in
While Ann’s pr=
imary
concern two years ago had been her mother’s arthritis and increasing
mobility problems, the family had also noticed that Mary was becoming
increasingly confused and forgetful. The family decided that residential ca=
re
would be best for Mary after a number of incidents including an occasion wh=
en
she switched the gas on in Ann’s kitchen to ‘make a cup of
tea’. While Ann was fortunate in that she noticed the smell before any
damage was done, she had become increasingly distressed by her mother’=
;s
erratic behaviour.
Mary often becomes c=
onfused
as to the day of the week, asking repeatedly why the boys haven’t bee=
n to
visit her on days when they are at work. When family members do visit, she
seems to take several minutes to ‘place’ them and invariably ge=
ts
their names wrong. When they ask what activities she’s enjoyed that w=
eek,
she looks sad and says that she ‘doesn’t know’.
The residential home=
staff
report that Mary is settling in well and making friends among the other
residents, enjoying games of cards and backgammon. Mary also enjoys the
reminiscence groups, where a volunteer visits the home and gets the residen=
ts
chatting about the ‘old days’. Mary has vivid memories of her
childhood and World War 2, when she met her late husband. Her children know=
the
stories inside out and roll their eyes when they hear another one coming!
Read the case study carefully and underline or
highlight references to memory, then answer the following questions.