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Abstract Understanding dementia is a pressing social challenge. This article draws on the �Dementia talking: care conversation and communication� project which aims to understand how talk about, and to people living with dementia is constructed. In this article I draw on the construction of dementia manifest in two data sets � a corpus of 350 recent UK national newspaper articles and qualitative data derived from in-depth interviews with informal carers. These data were analysed using a thematic discursive approach. A �panic-blame� framework was evident in much of the print media coverage. Dementia was represented in catastrophic terms as a �tsunami� and �worse than death�, juxtaposed with coverage of individualistic behavioural change and lifestyle recommendations to �stave off� the condition. Contrary to this media discourse, in carers' talk there was scant use of hyperbolic metaphor or reference to individual responsibility for dementia, and any corresponding blame and accountability. I argue that the presence of individualistic dementia �preventative� behaviour in media discourse is problematic, especially in comparison to other more �controllable� and treatable chronic conditions. Engagement with, and critique of, the nascent panic-blame cultural context may be fruitful in enhancing positive social change for people diagnosed with dementia and their carers.
