Dignity for Deeply Forgetful People: How Caregivers Can Meet the Challenges of Alzheimer's Disease

Author:   Stephen G. Post (Director, Center of Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics, Stony Brook University Medical Center) ,  Jade C. Angelica
Publisher:   Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN:  

9781421442495


Pages:   288
Publication Date:   26 July 2022
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

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Dignity for Deeply Forgetful People: How Caregivers Can Meet the Challenges of Alzheimer's Disease


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Overview

"For caregivers of deeply forgetful people: a book that combines new ethics guidelines with an innovative program on how to communicate and connect with people with Alzheimer's. How do we approach a ""deeply forgetful"" loved one so as to notice and affirm their continuing self-identity? For three decades, Stephen G. Post has worked around the world encouraging caregivers to become more aware of—and find renewed hope in—surprising expressions of selfhood despite the challenges of cognitive decline. In this book, Post offers new perspectives on the worth and dignity of people with Alzheimer's and related disorders despite the negative influence of ""hypercognitive"" values that place an ethically unacceptable emphasis on human dignity as based on linear rationality and strength of memory. This bias, Post argues, is responsible for the abusive exclusion of this population from our shared humanity. With vignettes and narratives, he argues for a deeper dignity grounded in consciousness, emotional presence, creativity, interdependence, music, and a self that is not ""gone"" but ""differently abled."" Post covers key practical topics such as: • understanding the experience of dementia • noticing subtle expressions of continuing selfhood, including ""paradoxical lucidity"" • perspectives on ethical quandaries from diagnosis to terminal care and everything in between, as gleaned from the voices of caregivers • how to communicate optimally and use language effectively • the value of art, poetry, symbols, personalized music, and nature in revealing self-identity • the value of trained ""dementia companion"" dogs At a time when medical advances to cure these conditions are still out of reach and the most recent drugs have shown limited effectiveness, Post argues that focusing discussion and resources on the relational dignity of these individuals and the respite needs of their caregivers is vital. Grounding ethics on the equal worth of all conscious human beings, he provides a cautionary perspective on preemptive assisted suicide based on cases that he has witnessed. He affirms vulnerability and interdependence as the core of the human condition and celebrates caregivers as advocates seeking social and economic justice in an American system where they and their loved ones receive only leftover scraps. Racially inclusive and grounded in diversity, Dignity for Deeply Forgetful People also includes a workshop appendix focused on communication and connection, ""A Caregiver Resilience Program,"" by Rev. Dr. Jade C. Angelica."

Full Product Details

Author:   Stephen G. Post (Director, Center of Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics, Stony Brook University Medical Center) ,  Jade C. Angelica
Publisher:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.544kg
ISBN:  

9781421442495


ISBN 10:   1421442493
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   26 July 2022
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

"Preface Chapter One. In Praise of Caregivers and Dignity Chapter Two. Hope in Caring for Deeply Forgetful People: Why It Matters and Where to Find It Chapter Three. Answers to Sixteen Questions Caregivers Ask from Diagnosis to Dying Chapter Four. The Seventeenth Question: Preemptive Physician-Assisted Suicide (PPAS) for Alzheimer's Disease: A Caution Chapter Five. A Caregiver's Ethical Purpose: Preserving Dignity, Ten Manifestations of Care, and Respect for the Whole Story of a Life Chapter Six. Respecting the Preferences of Deeply Forgetful People in Health Care and Research Chapter Seven. ""Is Grandma Still There?"" The Mystery of Continuing Self-Identity An Epilogue. North Wind A Caregiver Resilience Program: Meeting Alzheimer's: Learning to Communicate and Connect by Rev. Dr. Jade C. Angelica References Acknowledgments Index"

Reviews

Essential reading for all caregivers, family, and healthcare providers for deeply forgetful people. * Library Journal *


Author Information

Stephen G. Post is the director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. He is the author of The Moral Challenge of Alzheimer Disease: Ethical Issues from Diagnosis to Dying.

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