Alzheimer's from the Inside Out

by Richard Taylor

Overview

Receiving a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease profoundly alters lives and creates endless uncertainty about the future. How does a person cope with such a life-changing discovery? What are the hopes and fears of someone living with this disease? How does he want to be treated? How does he feel as the disease alters his brain, his relationships, and ultimately himself? Richard Taylor provides illuminating responses to these and many other questions in this collection of provocative essays. Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at age 61, the former psychologist courageously shares an account of his slow transformation and deterioration and the growing division between his world and the world of others. With poignant clarity, candor, and even occasional humor, more than 80 brief essays address difficult issues faced by those with Alzheimer’s disease, including the loss of independence and personhood unwanted personality shifts communication difficulties changes in relationships with loved ones and friends the declining ability to perform familiar tasks This rare, insightful exploration into the world of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease is a captivating read for anyone affected personally or professionally by the devastating disease. Individuals with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease will take comfort in the voice of a fellow traveler experiencing similar challenges, frustrations, and triumphs. Family and professional caregivers will be enlightened by Taylor’s revealing words, gaining a better understanding of an unfathomable world and how best to care for someone living in it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781932529234
Publisher:	Health Professions Press
Publication date:	12/01/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	255
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Richard Taylor has lived for over five years with a diagnosis of dementia probably of the Alzheimer's type. A former psychologist, he is now a champion for individuals with early-stage and early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Richard served on the board of the Houston and Southeast Texas Alzheimer's Association and is now a member of a special committee of the National Alzheimer's Association looking at how to evaluate and provide effective support to individuals in the early stages of the disease. He has started over 50 chat rooms worldwide for people with Alzheimer's disease and their loved ones and he is also the editor of a quarterly newsletter for people with early-onset, early-stage Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers. Originally Richard started writing essays to better understand for himself what was going on inside of him. He now writes to share his experiences with other individuals with the disease and their caregivers. His insights into himself and the disease are always honest, direct, poignant, and sometimes even witty. His essays have been published in Alzheimer's Care Quarterly. Richard lives in Cypress, Texas with his spouse Linda and his Bouvier des Flandres dog, Annie. His son and family live across the street from him. He spends his days playing with his two grandchildren, gardening, and writing.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: David O. Staats, MD (University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center)
Description: This is a single-author, first person account of what it's like to have early Alzheimer's disease. The author is a retired clinical psychologist.
Purpose: Its purpose is to let the lay public and healthcare providers know what's ticking inside the head of a person who has early Alzheimer's disease. These are worthy objectives and they are well met in this book.
Audience: Many persons will respond to this telling, ranging from a lay audience to the full range of social scientists. Physicians at all levels of training will find use of his suggestions of how to approach the patient and how not to behave in front of early dements.
Features: This is a series of short essays, most several pages long. Interspersed are quotes from Internet sources. At the end there is a list of organizations that serve persons with Alzheimer's disease and their loved ones.
Assessment: This is such a personal telling of a tale. The voice of the author, alternatively sardonic, then questioning and imploring, has a wonderful tone. The breadth of stories cited is the mark of a very wise person. Part Eric Berne, part Henry Fonda in "On Golden Pond," part the final movement of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, this work moves one to tears.

Doody's Review Service

"This is not an ordinary book. It is an extraordinary collection of anecdotes, ruminations, insights, comparisons, literary allusion and blinding insights. Be prepared to be challenged. Be prepared to reflect on your own human failings and joy at not having Alzheimer's disease. But most importantly, be prepared to read this book."

Reviews - Dementia Journal (UK)

"Extraordinary, brilliantly insightful, inspirational, courageous, thought-provoking--there is no end to the positive descriptors that can be attached to this amazing book by Richard Taylor. Alzheimer's from the Inside Out is not only a must read for persons with Alzheimer's and their personal and professional care partners, it is, plain and simple, a must-read book."

Reviews - and editor of Alzheimer's Care Quarterly

"Dr. Taylor’s words shed light on a very dark experience and the reader is led out of the darkness by his frankness, his humor, and most of all his spirit “alive within me.” His penetrating and pleading comments related to care giving cause the reader to take a deep breath, pause, and move forward with much greater insight into the complexity of these emotional relationships. Are these innovative words asking too much of the reader? I think not. We have been shielded too long from the mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease; these fresh words compel us to shed our misperceptions and enter into the world of those who command our attention. Through Dr. Taylor’s beautiful language and poignant reflections, we approach some clarity about the long neglected and misunderstood phenomenological experience of those living with Alzheimer’s disease."

Reviews