Dementia Parents

Nearly half of US citizens over the age of 85 are suffering from some kind of dementia and require care. Loving Someone Who Has Dementia is a new kind of caregiving book. It's not about the usual techniques, but about how to manage on-going stress and grief. The book is for caregivers, family members, friends, and neighbors, as well as educators and professionals - anyone touched by the epidemic of dementia. Dr. Boss helps caregivers find hope in "ambiguous loss" - having a loved one both here and not here, physically present but psychologically absent.

Through five editions, The 36-Hour Day has been an essential resource for families who love and care for people with Alzheimer disease. Whether a person has Alzheimer disease or another form of dementia, he or she will face a host of problems. The 36-Hour Day will help family members and caregivers address these challenges and simultaneously cope with their own emotions and needs. Featuring useful takeaway messages and informed by recent research into the causes of and the search for therapies to prevent or cure dementia, this edition includes new information.

If you are facing the unique challenges of caring for a parent with dementia, you are not alone. What do you do when your loved one so plainly needs assistance, but is confused, angry, or resistant to your help? Where can you find the vital information you need, when you need it? Journalist Thomas Harrison and leading geriatric psychiatrist Brent Forester show that you don’t have to be a medical expert to be a good care provider in this authoritative guide. They explain the basics of dementia and offer effective strategies for coping with the medical, emotional, and financial toll.

Jann Arden moved in to a house just across the way from her parents in rural Alberta to be close to them but also so they could be her refuge from the demands of the music business and a performing career. Funny how time works. Since her dad died in 2015, Jann cooks for her mom five or six times a week. Her mom finds comfort in her daughter's kitchen, not just in the delicious food but also just sitting with her as she cooks. And Jann finds some peace in caring for her mom, even as her mom slowly becomes a stranger.

Caring for someone with dementia means devotedly and patiently doing a hundred little things each day. Few care providers are trained to meet the challenges of dementia, however - and that is where A Loving Approach to Dementia Care can help. The book offers practical, compassionate advice on overcoming caregiving obstacles and maintaining meaningful relationships with loved ones who have dementia and memory loss.

Perhaps someone in your family has been diagnosed with Alzheimer disease - or maybe you worry about developing memory loss yourself. In Is It Alzheimer's?, Dr. Peter V. Rabins, a top expert in the field, educates listeners by answering 101 often-asked questions about memory loss and dementia. Aimed at friends and family members of the estimated 5.1 million US adults with dementia, as well as adults who are concerned about developing dementia, the book offers helpful directions and comfort.

Caring for someone with dementia can be a challenging, heartbreaking experience … but it can also be rewarding, fulfilling and meaningful. Most dementia caregivers find that the first, and sometimes most difficult step, is accepting the diagnosis and adjusting to a new normal. In Day to Day: Living With Dementia, Angela Lunde, M.A., an expert in dementia care at Mayo Clinic, helps you take that first step and chart your path toward living well, even in the face of dementia.

When Dr. David Kirkpatrick's wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2007, their lives - and their marriage - would change forever. In an honest, uplifting, and sometimes heartbreaking account of loving a partner with dementia, Dr. Kirkpatrick creates a clear guide for others in similar circumstances. He shares his perspective both as a loving and grief-stricken husband coping with a profound change in his marriage, and as a geriatric psychiatrist doing everything he can for his wife while continually learning throughout that experience.

For 40 years, "The 36-Hour Day" has been the leading work in the field for caregivers of those with dementia. Written by experts with decades of experience caring for individuals with memory loss, Alzheimer's, and other dementias, the book is widely known for its authoritativeness and compassionate approach to care. Featuring everything from the causes of dementia to managing its early stages to advice on caring for those in the later stages of the disease, it is widely considered to be the most detailed and trusted book available.

There are an estimated 6.5 million people in the US who suffer from dementia—a statistic that is only anticipated to increase as time goes on. As their condition worsens, patients become increasingly unable to care for themselves and have to rely on someone else, usually a loved one, to look after them.

Nothing could have prepared you for the complicated, scary position you’re in, but you don’t have to do it without help. Navigating this tough situation to keep your sanity while still being able to care for your loved one is possible with the guidance of Forget Me Not: A Caregiver’s Guide to Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease. You can maintain your peace, positivity, and well-being during this time with access to the right tools. Taking care of yourself ensures you can best take care of your loved one while not losing yourself and experiencing burnout in the process.

A loved one's dementia diagnosis can leave you feeling scared and overwhelmed. Now a renowned geriatrician who has helped thousands of families live happy, engaged lives—after a dementia diagnosis—shares her expertise in this easy-to-follow guide.

Dementia is a cruel disease, and neither this book nor any other make it all better. What this book aims to do, however, is show you that you can live with dementia and that there is life after a diagnosis. While dementia will steal a lot of the elements of your life, it can still leave you with much to be grateful for. Its progress can be delayed. And, ultimately, you and your loved ones can learn how to cope with it. 

After getting a master’s degree in clinical psychology, Dasha Kiper became the live-in caregiver for a Holocaust survivor with Alzheimer’s disease. For a year, she endured the emotional strain of looking after a person whose condition disrupts the rules of time, order, and continuity. Inspired by her own experience and her work counseling caregivers in the subsequent decade, Kiper offers an entirely new way to understand the symbiotic relationship between patients and those tending to them.

While there are rewards to caring for those we love, there is no denying being a caregiver is a stressful job. It’s physically demanding, mentally exhausting, and emotionally draining. It simply wears us thin.

A MacArthur Genius Grant recipient pioneers a radical change in how we interact with older loved ones, especially those experiencing dementia, as she introduces a proven method that uses the creative arts to bring light and joy to the lives of elders.

Steph Jagger lost her mother before she lost her. Her mother, stricken with an incurable disease that slowly erases all sense of self, struggles to remember her favorite drink, her favorite song, and—perhaps most heartbreaking of all—Steph herself. Steph watches as the woman who loved and raised her slips away before getting the chance to tell her story, and so Steph makes a promise: her mother will walk it, and she will write it.

Simple, imaginative activities and expressive therapies designed for caregivers to engage and connect with people living with dementia. Finding the creativity in the journey through dementia is a challenge millions of people face. One in three Americans knows someone with the disease. This practical book offers caregivers hands-on ideas for meaningful, creative activities they can do with their patients, family members, or friends who have dementia.

In Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words, Kate Whouley strips away the romantic veneer of mother-daughter love to bare the toothed and tough reality of caring for a parent who is slowly losing her mind. Yet, this is not a dark or dour look at the demon of Alzheimer’s. Whouley shares the trying, the tender, and the sometimes hilarious moments in meeting the challenge also known as Mom.

Dementia is tough on the person suffering from it…and tough on their caregivers. But rest assured that there are ways to make life easier for everyone, you included. With the help of this easy-to-follow guide, you will be able to put the necessary systems in place to care for your loved one, without sacrificing your well-being. Take a leaf out of the book of the many people who have already walked this path and know what works, and what doesn’t, in dementia care.