This is the most important blog post I have made to date.
I have espoused mind mapping as a way for those with early- and mid-stage dementia to continue to think and communicate using visual associations and judgments for several years now.
I can imagine that many have the reaction, “it can’t be done.” The video shows that it can.
The following is a time-lapse 39 minute video of a mind map being drawn “from scratch” with no prior thinking about the topic or rehearsal. The only thing decided before the map was started was its title (gotta start somewhere). Every 8 seconds of elapsed time is portrayed as 1 second, so the 39 minute elapsed time of the mind map development was compressed to 5 minutes.
The mind map artist was an individual with dementia (ME) who has been doing a lot of mind mapping since 2011 to deal with a diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease. He has contended for several years that mind mapping may be a very good tool for someone (not everyone) with dementia to communicate well and think better. It may be a good way to improve quality of life through communication, increased confidence, better planning and decision making, and somewhat enhanced memory.
This is the mind map I drew in 40 minutes. You will see that at times there are “pauses” in the mind map development. These were periods in which I had forgotten what I was doing and had to stop and retrace my steps (which is exceedingly easy with a mind map but time consuming) or I forgot where tools were on the menus. As I am losing vocabulary, pauses were also caused by being unable to immediately recall an appropriate word.
At any rate, here it is. See what you think.
The completed mind map, in static form, is shown below. Please watch the video first.
Imagine what I could have done had I started mind mapping 50 years ago in junior high school. My advice is to learn mind mapping before you have any cognitive problems. Then, you will have a file folder full of mind maps documenting your life. I wish that I did.
Click the map to expand it.
