The Complete Family Guide to Dementia: Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Parent and Yourself

by Thomas F. Harrison, Brent P. Forester MD, MSc

Overview

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. With the right skills, you can navigate changing family roles, communicate better with your parent, keep him or her safe, and manage difficult behaviors. Learn how to "care smarter, not harder"—and help your loved one maintain the best possible quality of life.

Winner (Second Place)—American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award, Consumer Health Category

Winner (Third Place)—Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award, Family & Relationships Category

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781462549429
Publisher:	Guilford Publications, Inc.
Publication date:	08/03/2022
Pages:	243
Sales rank:	61,459
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Thomas F. Harrison is a professional writer and the former editor of a leading national periodical for attorneys. Based in Massachusetts, he is the coauthor of The Complete Family Guide to Dementia and The Complete Family Guide to Addiction.

Brent P. Forester, MD, is the Dr. Francis S. Arkin Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine, Psychiatrist-in-Chief and Chairman for the Department of Psychiatry at Tufts Medical Center, and Director of Behavioral Health for Tufts Medicine. Dr. Forester's award-winning research focuses on developing effective treatments and models of care for dementia and mood disorders in older adults.

Table of Contents

Introduction
I. Understanding Your Parent’s Dementia
1. What Is Dementia? How Is It Different from Just Getting Older?
2. How Can I Know for Sure If My Parent Has Dementia?
3. What Causes Memory Loss?: Alzheimer’s Disease and the Many Other Causes
4. What to Expect: How the Problem Typically Progresses
5. Can Dementia Be Treated to Make It Less Severe?
II. Understanding Your New Relationship with Your Parent
6. Why Caring for Parents with Dementia Is So Much Harder than Caring for Parents with Other Diseases
7. The Biggest Mistake Family Members Make
8. Your New Relationship with Your Parent
9. Your Relationship with Your Other Parent or Stepparent
10. Taking Care of Yourself Is Not an Afterthought
III. Caring Smarter, Not Harder
11. What It Means to Care Smarter
12. How to Communicate with a Parent with Dementia
13. Avoiding Headaches with Your Parent’s Finances
14. When Is It Okay to Lie to Your Parent?
15. Keeping Your Parent Safe at Home
16. Getting Help When Your Parent Lives at Home or with You
17. How to Take Away the Car Keys
18. What Causes Problem Behaviors
19. How to Reduce Problem Behaviors
20. How to Handle Problem Behaviors When They Occur
21. Responding to Your Other Family Members and Friends
IV. The Later Stages
22. Moving Your Parent to a Care Facility
23. How to Choose a Care Facility
24. How Am I Going to Pay for All This?
25. Your Relationship with Your Parent in a Care Facility
26. Dealing with the End of Life 
Resources
Notes
Index
 

Editorial Reviews

Compassionate and empathic….The content will inspire, uplift, and inform while preserving dignity.

The Caregiver's Voice

Reviewer: Daniel M Tuinstra, MD (Holland Hospital)
Description: The authors have created a broad overview of the realities of caring for a loved one with dementia. The book gives special attention to the most practical areas of psychological, financial, and family issues that often remain invisible.
Purpose: The book serves as a guide to the practical issues that families face in caring for a parent with dementia. The authors have filled an important need by demystifying many of the practical, unseen challenges of dementia care. The book helps readers navigate the financial, logistic, family system, and especially emotional aspects of these complicated waters.
Audience: The ideal audience for this book is the family members or loved ones of individuals in the early stages of dementia. Clinicians would do well to keep a copy of the book for educational and orientation purposes at the time of diagnosis. This could be an important book to help individuals prepare for the practical steps and emotional processing of caring for a loved one with dementia.
Features: The book offers appropriately limited features and the authors focus exclusively on creating a useful orientation for families caring for individuals with dementia. The thorough attention to likely unanticipated challenges, such as "When is it OK to lie to your parents?" is the biggest strength of this textbook. In addition to well-organized, practical, concise writing, the authors have compiled very useful bullet lists of additional resources for families.
Assessment: The book is limited in its appreciation of different cultures and would likely be most applicable to families with significant financial resources. Despite this, the book serves as a comforting and orienting primer for the loved ones of an individual with dementia. From the earliest stages of the illness to preparing for the final days of life, the authors give practical advice and concise menus of options. The book is light on scientific evidence, making it easily accessible to the lay person. It offers important psychological descriptions and practical experiences that can serve to prepare families for the path that lies ahead, offer validation for the challenges of caregiving, and remind the caregiving families of the importance of respite and self-care.

Doody's Review Service

"What a fantastic guide! The book empowers and validates caregivers. You will get needed answers and guidance, and ways to reduce fears and anxieties. Relatable, authentic, practical—this is the book I wish I'd had when my mother was diagnosed.”—Karen F., Marblehead, Massachusetts

"Two dedicated experts walk caregivers through everything from understanding a loved one's diagnosis to dealing with the entire range of expected medical, psychiatric, and behavioral issues. Most important, this book is a guide to building the best possible relationship with the person who is living and even thriving in spite of his or her cognitive changes."—Marc E. Agronin, MD, author of The End of Old Age: Living a Longer, More Purposeful Life

“This book is a lifesaver. In down-to-earth language, it deftly captures the latest expert advice about dementia care. Dr. Forester brilliantly cared for my wife with dementia—and taught me, her chief care partner, how to survive and thrive.”—Jerry M., Cambridge, Massachusetts

"For the adult child of a parent with dementia, the emotional impact is unlike any other disease. This reassuring book helps you navigate your new role in your relationship with your parent and provides concrete, useful advice for managing common concerns. The authors show how 'working smarter' can enhance your loved one's quality of life. It is sure to be a trusted guidebook and companion."—Susan W. Lehmann, MD, Clinical Director, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatry, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

"This wonderful book speaks directly to adult children caring for a parent with dementia, and gives equal weight to the facts, the feelings, and the often bumpy road to understanding, acceptance, and effective care. The sections on how to communicate and resolve conflicts with the 'other' parent—the one who doesn't have dementia—are unique. Above all, this book shows us how to focus on the feelings—our own, our siblings', and our parents'—that are at the heart of caregiving but can give us the biggest challenges.”—Soo Borson, MD, Professor of Clinical Family Medicine, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine; Professor Emerita of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington

“This remarkable, eye-opening book should be required reading for dementia care navigators, as well as for the families to whom it is addressed.”—Joe Costello, dementia advocate; member, Massachusetts Governor’s Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s and All Other Dementias

“When someone close to me was diagnosed with dementia, I found this book exceptionally helpful. I now better understand the disease and how it is likely to progress. Reading it helped me move forward with greater understanding and compassion. I have picked it up on numerous occasions since; it is a trusted companion. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a loved one (not just a parent) with dementia.”—Dennis Greenberger, PhD, coauthor of Mind Over Mood

From the Publisher