Monster in the Mind

Thirty years ago, medical journalist Jean Carper made a CNN documentary about Alzheimer’s, a disease that still poses one of the biggest threats to the aging Western population. Back then, it was predicted that a treatment for the condition would be found within 30 years. Carper, who is over 80 now, carries the gene found in Alzheimer’s patients.

She decides to travel the world to see how the research is progressing. She interviews scientists and other experts and undergoes all kinds of tests to find out what her chances are of developing the dreaded condition. Carper tackles this thorny topic head on, but with a sense of perspective. Footage from film archives and old B-movies helps illustrate the extent to which our ideas about the condition are dominated by exaggerated fears, not to mention unrealistic expectations about what medical science can do.