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Travelers to unimaginable lands: stories of dementia, the caregiver, and the human brain / Dasha Kiper.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Random House, [2023]Copyright date: ©2023Edition: First editionDescription: xxxii, 233 pages ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780399590535
  • 0399590536
Other title:
  • Stories of dementia, the caregiver, and the human brain
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Foreword / by Norman Doidge -- Preface -- Borges in the Bronx : why we can't remember that Alzheimer's patients forget -- "The weak child" : why it's so hard to change our responses -- Dementia blindness : why it takes so long to see the disease -- Chekhov and the left-brain interpreter : why we believe that the person we used to know is still there -- The insistent, persistent CEO : why we feel patients are still capable of self-awareness -- When every day is Sunday : why we dispute a patient's reality -- My dinner with Stefan Zweig : why we take patients' words and actions personally -- The mastermind : why we continue to rely on reason -- Ah humanity : why we attribute intention of patients' behaviors -- When the right thing is the wrong thing : why it's so hard to let go of blame -- Word girl : why we persist -- Epilogue.
Summary: "These compelling case histories meld science and storytelling to illuminate the complex relationship between the mind of someone with dementia and the mind of the person caring for them. 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. Her book is the first to examine how the workings of the "healthy" brain prevent us from adapting to and truly understanding the cognitively impaired one. In these poignant but unsentimental stories of parents and children, husbands and wives, Kiper explores the existential dilemmas created by this disease: A man believes his wife is an impostor. A woman's imaginary friendships drive a wedge between herself and her devoted husband. Another woman's childhood trauma emerges to torment her son. A man's sudden Catholic piety provokes his wife. Why is taking care of a family member with dementia so difficult? Why do caregivers succumb to behaviors--arguing, blaming, insisting, taking symptoms personally--they know are counterproductive? Exploring the healthy brain's intuitions and proclivities, Travelers to Unimaginable Lands reveals the neurological obstacles to caregiving, enumerating not only the terrible pressures the disease exerts on our closest relationships but offering solace and perspective as well"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 616.831 K57 Available 33111011042864
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 616.831 K57 Checked out 05/30/2024 33111010969497
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

These "moving and often surprising" ( The Wall Street Journal ) case histories meld science and storytelling to show that caregivers don't just witness cognitive decline in their loved ones with dementia--they are its invisible victims.

"This book will forever change the way we see people with dementia disorders--and the people who care for them."--Lori Gottlieb, author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

A BBC BOOK OF THE WEEK * A TELEGRAPH BEST BOOK OF SUMMER

Inspired by Dasha Kiper's experience as a caregiver and counselor and informed by a breadth of cognitive and neurological research, Travelers to Unimaginable Lands dispels the myth of the perfect caregiver. In these compassionate, nonjudgmental stories of parents and children, husbands and wives, contending with dementia disorders, Kiper explores the existential dilemmas created by this disease: a man believes his wife is an impostor; a woman's imaginary friendships with famous authors drive a wedge between her and her devoted husband; another woman's childhood trauma emerges to torment her son; a man's sudden, intense Catholic piety provokes his wife.

Kiper explains why the caregivers are maddened by these behaviors, mirroring their patients' irrationality, even though they've been told it's the disease at work. By demystifying the neurological obstacles to caregiving, Kiper illuminates the terrible pressure dementia disorders exert on our closest relationships, offering caregivers the perspective they need to be gentler with themselves.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-222) and index.

Foreword / by Norman Doidge -- Preface -- Borges in the Bronx : why we can't remember that Alzheimer's patients forget -- "The weak child" : why it's so hard to change our responses -- Dementia blindness : why it takes so long to see the disease -- Chekhov and the left-brain interpreter : why we believe that the person we used to know is still there -- The insistent, persistent CEO : why we feel patients are still capable of self-awareness -- When every day is Sunday : why we dispute a patient's reality -- My dinner with Stefan Zweig : why we take patients' words and actions personally -- The mastermind : why we continue to rely on reason -- Ah humanity : why we attribute intention of patients' behaviors -- When the right thing is the wrong thing : why it's so hard to let go of blame -- Word girl : why we persist -- Epilogue.

"These compelling case histories meld science and storytelling to illuminate the complex relationship between the mind of someone with dementia and the mind of the person caring for them. 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. Her book is the first to examine how the workings of the "healthy" brain prevent us from adapting to and truly understanding the cognitively impaired one. In these poignant but unsentimental stories of parents and children, husbands and wives, Kiper explores the existential dilemmas created by this disease: A man believes his wife is an impostor. A woman's imaginary friendships drive a wedge between herself and her devoted husband. Another woman's childhood trauma emerges to torment her son. A man's sudden Catholic piety provokes his wife. Why is taking care of a family member with dementia so difficult? Why do caregivers succumb to behaviors--arguing, blaming, insisting, taking symptoms personally--they know are counterproductive? Exploring the healthy brain's intuitions and proclivities, Travelers to Unimaginable Lands reveals the neurological obstacles to caregiving, enumerating not only the terrible pressures the disease exerts on our closest relationships but offering solace and perspective as well"-- Provided by publisher.

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