Auguste Deter Loses Herself Slowly

The first known person diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease was a German woman named Auguste Deter. After she entered a Frankfurt psychiatric hospital in 1901, physician Alois Alzheimer found that she could state her first name but repeated "Auguste" when asked for her surname and lost track while trying to write it. Aware of her worsening confusion, she repeatedly said, "I have lost myself" ("Ich habe mich verloren").

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