Alzheimer's disease is a growing public health crisis. According to the Alzheimer's Association, there are 5.4 million victims of this disease; by 2050, there will be close to 15 million people who suffer from this debilitating disorder of memory, thinking, personality, and functioning. The disease profoundly affects immediate family members, close friends, and neighbors. These people - the Alzheimer's family - undergo tremendous psychological and emotional change as they witness the cruel and relentless progression of the disease in their loved one. Incorporating over thirty years of experience with Alzheimer's patients and their families with current medical knowledge, the authors chart the complex emotional journey of the Alzheimer's family from the onset of the disease through the death of the loved one. They discuss the anger that rises in the face of discordant views of the disease, the defenses that emerge when family members are unwilling to accept a dementia diagnosis, and the common emotions of anxiety, guilt, anger, and shame. They focus especially on grief as the core response to losing a loved one to dementia, and describe the difficult processes of adaptation and acceptance, which lead to personal growth. Final chapters emphasize the importance of establishing a care community and how to understand and cope with personal stress. This volume will be useful to medical professionals and ordinary people close to or caring for a person with dementia.

Alzheimer's disease is a growing public health crisis. According to the Alzheimer's Association, there are 5.4 million victims of this disease; by 2050, there will be close to 15 million people who suffer from this debilitating disorder of memory, thinking, personality, and functioning. The disease profoundly affects immediate family members, close friends, and neighbors. These people - the Alzheimer's family - undergo tremendous psychological and emotional change as they witness the cruel and relentless progression of the disease in their loved one. Incorporating over thirty years of experience with Alzheimer's patients and their families with current medical knowledge, the authors chart the complex emotional journey of the Alzheimer's family from the onset of the disease through the death of the loved one. They discuss the anger that rises in the face of discordant views of the disease, the defenses that emerge when family members are unwilling to accept a dementia diagnosis, and the common emotions of anxiety, guilt, anger, and shame. They focus especially on grief as the core response to losing a loved one to dementia, and describe the difficult processes of adaptation and acceptance, which lead to personal growth. Final chapters emphasize the importance of establishing a care community and how to understand and cope with personal stress. This volume will be useful to medical professionals and ordinary people close to or caring for a person with dementia.

“A useful, step-by-step guide for anyone new to caring for those with Alzheimer’s.” —Library Journal H.O.P.E. for the Alzheimer’s Journey equips Alzheimer’s caregivers with knowledge, tools, and advice for their difficult road ahead. Author Carol B. Amos incorporates her own experience—including her family’s email correspondence illustrating how they coped during this particular challenge. Amos also introduces The Caregiving Principle™: a simple approach that provides a deeper understanding of a person with Alzheimer’s disease and a framework for the caregiver’s role. She provides examples of how The Caregiving Principle™ helped her connect with her mother. H.O.P.E. for the Alzheimer’s Journey encourages caregivers to take care for themselves and provides inspiration for a less stressful, more rewarding journey.

Possibly the best rescue plan you've ever read.If you are caring for someone with Alzheimers Disease or Related Dementias,PathwaysPathwaysPathways"You have straightened out the curves and turns and false roads of the family caregiver maze. Accurate, useful, dependable, relevant, and reliable. You have done a yeoman's job and all of us who care for a person with dementia will be better for your efforts. PathwaysContact Us:For more information or immediate assistance, contact us at (877) 699-3456 or visit www.dementiahelpcenter.com

The beloved best seller has been revised and expanded for the fifth edition. Jolene Brackey has a vision: that we will soon look beyond the challenges of Alzheimer's disease to focus more of our energies on creating moments of joy. When people have short-term memory loss, their lives are made up of moments. We are not able to create perfectly wonderful days for people with dementia or Alzheimer's, but we can create perfectly wonderful moments, moments that put a smile on their faces and a twinkle in their eyes. Five minutes later, they will not remember what we did or said, but the feeling that we left them with will linger. The new edition of Creating Moments of Joy is filled with more practical advice sprinkled with hope, encouragement, new stories, and generous helpings of humor. In this volume, Brackey reveals that our greatest teacher is having cared for and loved someone with Alzheimer's and that often what we have most to learn about is ourselves.

A guide to help family and friends navigate the emotional and practical challenges they face when someone they love is living in community care. Life changes dramatically for the entire family when the decision is made to move a person who has dementia from home to community care. Rachael Wonderlin, a gerontologist, dementia care expert, and popular dementia care blogger, helps caregivers cope with the difficult behaviors, emotions, and anxieties that both they and their loved one may experience. Writing from her own practice and drawing on the latest research in gerontology and dementia, Wonderlin explains the different kinds of dementia, details the wide range of care communities available for people who have dementia, and speaks empathetically to the worry and guilt many families feel. "Do not let anyone make you feel like you have taken the 'easy way out' by choosing a dementia care community," she writes. "You are still going to deal with a lot of challenging behaviors, concerns, and questions regarding your loved one's care." When Someone You Know Is Living in a Dementia Care Community is an accessible guide offering answers to such questions as: How do I choose a place for my loved one to live? What can I find out by visiting a candidate memory-care community twice? What do I do if my loved one asks about going home? How can I improve the quality of my visits? What is the best way to handle conflict between residents, or between the resident and staff? How can I cope with my loved one's sundowning? What do I do if my loved one starts a romantic relationship with another resident? An indispensable book for family members and friends of people with dementia, When Someone You Know is Living in a Dementia Care Community touches the heart while explaining how to make a difficult situation better.

This book helps to relieve the fear, anxiety and confusion family member experience when a loved one is diagnosed with dementia. This 3-hour read provides detailed help with skills, tips and guidance based on 14 years of dementia experience.

Leading experts from Duke University provide the cutting-edge information that every family affected by Alzheimer's needs--from the benefits of early detection to prolonging quality of life.

"He didn't know his age, the year, or his surroundings, but he knew his life could still make a difference. On this path, he went forward with his heart. Every emotion was authentic. Each moment was new-but it was also full of love, anger, or fear, and he had to travel through it." In a matter of days, Eve Soldinger's life and family changed utterly: Her beloved father was diagnosed with dementia. The challenges are those every adult child faced with caring for an aging parent will recognize: How do I see to his needs? How do I protect him? How do I explain to others? But her insight and experience also bring a fresh, hopeful perspective. Discover with Eve and her family how they not only coped with practical challenges, but transformed heartbreaking years into a time of laughter, growth, and love-unexpected gifts that will enrich the lives of all families who walk this path.

Just days after turning fifty, Martha Maddux, a spirited mother and civic activist, was told she had Alzheimer’s disease. She and husband Carlen felt as though they’d been shoved out of a plane 10,000 feet up, with nothing to grab but themselves. A Path Revealed is not about the fallout from an insidious disease that extended over seventeen years. It is the story of a path of hope emerging during the darkest hours - a path that lifted Carlen and Martha above the devastating symptoms of this disease. Carlen traveled with Martha to the backwoods of Kentucky, where the quiet presence of a Catholic nun revealed a hidden path. He was forced to slow down as he traced this path halfway around the world to Australia, retreated weekends to a monastery, embraced meditation, and landed all alone in Thomas Merton’s cabin. This story conveys a message of hope and joy in the midst of an almost overwhelming tragedy.