Logo for The Forgetting: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer's

The Forgetting: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer's

WCAI

The Forgetting is a podcast that talks about and demystifies Alzheimer's disease. The twice-monthly show is co-hosted by two well-respected Alzheimer’s experts: David Shenk and Greg O’Brien.

O’Brien was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2009, at age 59. The podcast highlights the friendship Shenk and O’Brien share, while also documenting O’Brien’s experience with the disease as its symptoms become more pronounced. The earliest conversations date from 2015. Subsequent episodes of the podcast follow O'Brien's journey with the disease to the present day.

The conversations are geared toward people with the disease, as well as caregivers, friends and loved ones. In addition to discussing O'Brien's day-to-day life with Alzheimer’s and the tactics he uses to cope, the podcast also features guest interviews.

David Shenk is author of The Forgetting: Alzheimer’s, Portrait of an Epidemic. 

Greg O’Brien is author of On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer’s.

The podcast is produced at WCAI in Woods Hole.

Executive Producer: Sean Corcoran

Producer: Steve Junker

The Forgetting is a podcast that talks about and demystifies Alzheimer's disease. The twice-monthly show is co-hosted by two well-respected Alzheimer’s experts: David Shenk and Greg O’Brien.

O’Brien was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2009, at age 59. The podcast highlights the friendship Shenk and O’Brien share, while also documenting O’Brien’s experience with the disease as its symptoms become more pronounced. The earliest conversations date from 2015. Subsequent episodes of the podcast follow O'Brien's journey with the disease to the present day.

The conversations are geared toward people with the disease, as well as caregivers, friends and loved ones. In addition to discussing O'Brien's day-to-day life with Alzheimer’s and the tactics he uses to cope, the podcast also features guest interviews.

David Shenk is author of The Forgetting: Alzheimer’s, Portrait of an Epidemic. 

Greg O’Brien is author of On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer’s.

The podcast is produced at WCAI in Woods Hole.

Executive Producer: Sean Corcoran

Producer: Steve Junker

16hr 3min
Thumbnail for "Isolating from Friends".
David asks Greg to record the podcast without notes or prompts, but this creates tremendous anxiety for Greg.
April 14, 202235min 18sec50.85 MB
Thumbnail for "Season Finale: Looking Toward the Future".
Greg talks about some of his health issues, not because he wants a “pity party,” but so people will know just how much damage dementia does to the body as well as the brain.
April 21, 202235min 45sec51.52 MB
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Actor and screenwriter Lauren Miller Rogen speaks candidly with Greg and David about caring for her mother, who died in 2020 from early-onset Alzheimer’s.
March 31, 202232min 46sec47.22 MB
Thumbnail for "We Love Our Moms".
David and Greg talk about their moms, both of whom died after developing dementia. Greg’s mother taught him how to live with Alzheimer’s, Greg says. Like his Mom, Greg says he sometimes hallucinates, seeing people who aren’t there.
March 17, 202234min 5sec49.11 MB
Thumbnail for "Mandy Moore Is a Superfan".
Mandy Moore, the star of This is Us, joins Greg and David to talk about portraying a character coping with developing dementia .
March 3, 202235min 19sec50.88 MB
Thumbnail for "Not the Same Person".
The Forgetting returns for Season 3
February 17, 202228min 32sec41.1 MB
Thumbnail for "A Pandemic of Uncertainty".
Dementia creates a lot of uncertainty, and the pandemic and the country’s politics have made it worse.
February 1, 202131min 30sec45.38 MB
Thumbnail for "Living In A Movie".
Movies – including the classic Jaws – have helped Greg during some tough times dealing with Alzheimer's.
November 13, 202030min 41sec44.2 MB
Thumbnail for "Beyond the Same Thing".
Dealing with Alzheimer's amid the pandemic has particular challenges for patients and caregivers. Greg and David talk about isolation, rage, and coping.
November 2, 202022min 11sec31.96 MB
Thumbnail for "Dementia in the Age of Coronavirus".
Isolation, frustration, and fear. Some of the hallmarks of people's response to the coronavirus pandemic have long been familiar to Alzheimer patients and caregivers.
October 16, 202021min 35sec31.1 MB
Thumbnail for "All in the Family".
Actor David Hyde Pierce joins Greg and David to talk about his personal experience with Alzheimer's, which touched both his father and his grandfather.
October 2, 202047min 24sec68.27 MB
Thumbnail for "Guardian Angel".
David asks some hard questions about Greg’s daily glasses of wine. And David knows what Greg is talking about when he says that sometimes he just wants to “go home.”
September 18, 202032min 37sec46.97 MB
Thumbnail for "Soaking Wet".
Greg and David welcome their special guest, Lisa Genova, the author of “Still Alice” and a Harvard-trained neuroscientist.
September 4, 202038min 29sec55.43 MB
Thumbnail for "Standing Naked".
Greg and David are back with season 2 of their conversations around Alzheimer’s disease.
August 14, 202032min 7sec46.26 MB
Thumbnail for "The Forgetting Special Edition: Dementia in the Age of Coronavirus".
Isolation, frustration, and fear. Some of the hallmarks of people's response to the coronavirus pandemic have long been familiar to Alzheimer patients and caregivers.
April 7, 202021min 35sec31.1 MB
Thumbnail for "The Forgetting: Season One Finale".
The Forgetting: Episode 13 In the finale of “The Forgetting Podcast: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer’s” Season 1, we learn that there will be a season 2, slated for release in the fall. We also hear from co-hosts Greg O’Brien and David Shenk about the
July 5, 201944min 54sec64.68 MB
Thumbnail for "Where’s the Government?".
The Forgetting podcast: Episode 12 Special guest George Vrandenburg talks about his work pushing the federal government to spend more on research. George tells talks about the loss of his wife Trish to Alzheimer’s and how the disease impacted their family
June 14, 201947min 29sec68.38 MB
Thumbnail for "A Family Diagnosis".
The Forgetting podcast: Episode 11 Greg reveals that he blacked out twice while going to a business meeting, but he did not tell anyone. David tries to surprise Greg with two mystery guests. The surprise fails. Greg’s two sons, Conner and Brendan O’Brien,
May 31, 201938min 54sec56.04 MB
Thumbnail for "Moving Between Two Worlds".
The Forgetting podcast: Episode 10 Greg and David are joined by Gloria Clayborne, the wife and caregiver to jazz icon Junior Mance, who has dementia. Greg talks about going into a rage and stepping out of a cab in Manhattan. Gloria discusses some of the
May 17, 201947min 13sec68.02 MB
Thumbnail for "Finding New Pathways".
The Forgetting podcast: Episode 9 Greg talks about the death of Trish Vradenburg, who, along with her husband George, helped create US Against Alzheimer’s – one of the most effective advocacy organizations in the Alzheimer’s world. Greg says his mind is
May 3, 201926min 24sec38.02 MB
Thumbnail for "Realize What's Important".
The Forgetting podcast: Episode 8 Greg loses his friend. Greg gets upset with people who do the “drive by.” An encounter of the 3rd kind. Greg tells a joke about Alzheimer’s, reminding us to keep our senses of humor. A discussion of the disease before
April 12, 201934min 36sec49.85 MB
Thumbnail for "Less Judgmental".
The Forgetting podcast: Episode 7 Greg talks about flipping off drivers on the way to the station. David and Greg discuss when it’s appropriate to correct someone with Alzheimer’s, and when it’s be best to just let things go. David surprises Greg by
March 29, 201939min 31sec56.91 MB
Thumbnail for "In a Place Like This".
The Forgetting podcast: Episode 6 Greg talks about caregivers, and how it’s never just one person who has Alzheimer’s, but the whole family. Greg tells a story about being so filled with rage, he crossed a street without caring to even look for cars.
March 15, 201937min 18sec53.72 MB
Thumbnail for "Without the Filter".
The Forgetting podcast: Episode 5 Greg feels that he's becoming more like Larry David, blurting out his thoughts and feelings. Another problem at airport security: Greg throws a shoe. An outburst at the Harvard Club. Why humor helps. A discussion of Glen
March 1, 201943min 13sec62.25 MB
Thumbnail for "Becoming Grandpa".
The Forgetting podcast: Episode 4 Greg talks about how he often doesn't recognize people he knows. Greg gets upset when his first grandchild is being born, and his older sister sets him straight. Greg gets lost in his hotel. And while giving a speech,
January 28, 201930min 7sec19.07 MB
Thumbnail for "The No Fly List".
The Forgetting podcast: Episode 3 David takes away Greg's laptop. Greg talks about ongoing rage issues and how his anger almost put him on the federal no-fly list. Greg says that in some ways Alzheimer's has given him a purpose. Greg no longer has
January 27, 201929min 50sec42.98 MB
Thumbnail for "The Mistaken Kiss".
The Forgetting podcast: Episode 2 Greg talks about a humiliating experience that's becoming more common. He discusses how he tries to conceal his symptoms (what he calls "the train wreck"), because he doesn't want people's sympathy. Greg mistakenly kisses
January 26, 201929min 22sec18.76 MB
Thumbnail for "Introductions".
The Forgetting podcast: Episode 1 In the first episode of The Forgetting, we meet Greg O'Brien and David Shenk. We hear about Greg's long history with Alzheimer's, including taking care of family members with the disease before his own symptoms came on.
January 25, 201934min 36sec21.55 MB

Isolating from Friends

Thumbnail for "Isolating from Friends".
April 14, 202235min 18sec

David asks Greg to record the podcast without notes or prompts, but this creates tremendous anxiety for Greg. He says that these records are becoming more difficult, as he has less “cognitive reserve” to draw upon. That also is one of the reasons Greg is isolating from friends; he often doesn’t know what to say and becomes filled with anxiety. Also, Greg has another problem on an airplane as it become more difficult to control his rage.

Thumbnail for "Isolating from Friends".
Isolating from Friends
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