Reviews
This is an amazing book! I was greatly moved by the very personal and intimate accounts of the difficulties and challenges presented by progressive memory loss. This book is critical for people newly diagnosed and their family and friends, and all of us who provide care to these families.
Harris has assembled in The Person with Alzheimer's Disease a collection of contributions rich in their insights about the lived experience of persons with AD... [It] compels us to focus on potential contributions, on the persistence of selfhood and human agency, and on how the voices of those with AD can teach us powerful and important lessons.
If, like me, you believe that Alzheimer's is an illness people can live with rather than being a condition they die from, then this is the book for you. It has the potential to influence and change the experience of care by influencing and changing the practice of those who read it, who hear the voices of those involved with it and who reflect on the lessons which may be learned.
This book values persons with dementia as contributing to expanding knowledge about dementia and about the meaning of living with dementia while, at the same time, it challenges the assumption that persons with dementia are empty shells and burdens to society... This book is essential reading for all health care providers and care partners who care for persons living with dementia throughout the entire journey, from diagnosis to receiving formal services. Educators, researchers, policy makers, and AD society staff and executive would also benefit greatly from reading this book... I believe this in-depth examination is important, since newer and deeper understandings of dementia, through the eyes of a person living with dementia, can transform practice and lift stigmas... This book provides an important contribution to the dementia literature, as it enriches our understanding of dementia from the perspective of the 'experts'—persons living with dementia.
It is a celebration of the spirit and the strengths of ordinary people who are faced with the challenges of AD (Alzeimher's disease) and other dementias.
Drawing on contributions from researchers and clinicians who have gathered information from a wide variety of sources, this book presents the day-to-day experience of living with dementia in the words of the people themselves. The book's originality lies in the evidence it brings to bear on the active and able manner in which people with dementia live with the condition. There are no comparable books published in this area. This will be a key text in dementia studies.
This book is essential reading for everyone providing care. It moves beyond negative stereotypes to explore the richness and complexity of personhood with dementia.
Book Details
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Prologue: Notes from The Crying Room
Part I: The Medical Experience
1. Testing Times: The Experience of Neuropsychological Assessment for People with
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Prologue: Notes from The Crying Room
Part I: The Medical Experience
1. Testing Times: The Experience of Neuropsychological Assessment for People with Suspected Alzheimer's Disease
2. Medical Experiences and Concerns of People with Alzheimer's Disease
Part II: The Impact of the Diagnosis on Everyday Life
3. Living with the Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease
4. Making the Most of Everyday: Quality of Life
5. Selfhood and Alzheimer's Disease
6. Social and Family Relationships: Establishing and Maintaining Connections
7. Meaningful Communication throughout the Journey: Clinical Observations
8. Connecting to the Spirit
9. Building Resilience through Coping and Adapting
Part III: Experiences with Fornal Services
10. The Experience of People with Dementia in Community Services
11. Volunteerism: Contributions by Persons with Alzheimer's Disease
12. The Experience of Support Groups for Persons with Early-Stage Alzheimer's Disease and Their Families -
13. The Person with Dementia and Artwork: Art Therapy
14. "I Can't Place This Place at All": The Nursing Home Experience
Index