Skip to main content

Half a million Canadians aged 65-and-older have it, but many don’t know it because only a small percentage pursue a diagnosis. It may lead to dementia, including dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease, but not always.

Living with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Guide to Maximizing Brain Health and Reducing Risk of Dementia, is the first comprehensive book to be published on Mild Cognitive Impairment or MCI. MCI is considered a transition stage or border zone between mild cognitive changes associated with normal aging and more serious cognitive problems caused by an underlying disease such as Alzheimer’s.

This book is organized into three sections:

  • What MCI is, how it differs from normal aging and dementia, what it may lead to and its risk factors
  • How MCI is diagnosed and treated, how it affects individuals and their family members
  • Information about how to optimize cognitive health through lifestyle choices like diet and exercise, and cognitive and social engagement, and the use of practical, effective memory strategies

Helpful Tables and worksheets from the book:

How to order

Living with Mild Cognitive Impairment is available for purchase at Oxford University Press and through Amazon.

About the authors

Dr. Nicole Anderson – clinical neuropsychologist and senior scientist, Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute.

Dr. Anderson’s research focuses on cognitive interventions for healthy older adults, older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or adults recovering from stroke or traumatic brain injury. The goal of this research is to understand the cognitive mechanisms of the interventions, and to then use that information to help improve their efficacy. She is interested in whether the interventions improve the targeted function, whether they generalize to other cognitive tasks and to everyday functioning, and whether they change brain activity so that networks implicated in healthy (or younger) adults are recruited after treatment. Click here for Dr. Anderson’s bio.

Dr. Kelly Murphy – clinical neuropsychologist, Neuropsychology & Cognitive Health, Baycrest.

Dr. Murphy has been a neuropsychologist at Baycrest since 1999. She is also cross-appointed as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, and holds adjunct faculty appointments in the graduate psychology programs at York University and at Queen’s University. She obtained her Ph.D. from Western University in 1996 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Rotman Research Institute of Baycrest. Her primary research focus is on the cognitive characteristics of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). She heads the Memory Intervention Program for MCI, which was recognized with a program excellence award from the Alzheimer Society of Canada in 2010. A current goal is to share this evidence-based program with other healthcare professionals/centres.

Dr. Angela Troyer – professional practice chief, Psychology and Program Director of Neuropsychology and Cognitive Health, Baycrest.

Dr. Troyer is cross-appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. She received her Ph.D. in neuropsychology from the University of Victoria, and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Rotman Research Institute of Baycrest. She has worked as a psychologist at Baycrest since 1997, where she developed and implemented the Memory and Aging Program and provided clinical neuropsychological assessment services. She has an active research program in the area of assessment and intervention of memory changes associated with normal aging and early cognitive disorders.

Related links