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Caring for a Loved One with Dementia: A Mindfulness-Based Guide for Reducing Stress and Making the Best of Your Journey Together

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Caring for a Loved One with Dementia is a unique and compassionate guide that offers an effective mindfulness-based dementia care (MBDC) program to help you meet your own needs and lower stress levels while caring for your loved one.

Caring for a loved one with dementia can be extremely stressful. This essential guide provides skills for dealing with the accompanying emotional and physical stress, and offers tools to help you manage your own needs, in addition to the needs of your loved one. Dementia is a cruel disease that can leave both the sufferer—and those who care about them—reeling. But in the midst of the pain, the mindfulness practices in this book will help you find strength and meaning in each moment you spend with your loved one.

The unique program in this book addresses two of the most important needs caregivers face: stress reduction and greater ease in providing care. In addition, you will learn to approach your care with a calm, centered presence, respond to your loved one instead of reacting, and learn to connect with your loved one beyond their words. Perhaps most importantly, you will learn to effectively manage the grief, anger, depression, and other emotions that are often associated with dementia care.

Both practical and compassionate, this book will be a comfort during your loved one's illness.

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 2, 2016

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About the author

Marguerite Manteau-Rao

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5 stars
17 (27%)
4 stars
32 (52%)
3 stars
10 (16%)
2 stars
1 (1%)
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
697 reviews
July 1, 2023
4.5 stars! Great book presented in calm, quet way. Great ideas and suggestions for caring for someone with dementia.
Profile Image for Connie Anderson.
341 reviews28 followers
March 2, 2017
Mrs. Manteau-Rao informs us that mindfulness "is a way of paying attention". Her book is about mindfulness to the very end of life of your loved one. This should be the dementia bible. It has everything. The one thing that I learned about and struck me the most was "care partnering" instead of "caregiving".

Care Partnering "is a more mutual and balanced way of being with our loved one". Why is this so meaningful to me? Just this: one of the five Core Emotions Needs in Jane Verity's list. And that is the need to be useful along with the need to make decisions "are the two most important emotional needs you should consider when caring for a loved one". Also, allowing your loved one to have a choice, even if it is between two things only.

This book is plum full of valuable care concerns and advice to make caring better, not only for you, but for your loved one. It even explains how to grieve the last days of their lives. I wish I had this as my grandmother went downhill in just a matter of days. One day she was fine and talking, and the next, the nurses were refusing to give her food and water. This was explained so clearly in this book. It is good for anyone with a loved one who is at the end of life, as well. This is a very valuable book that I am so honored and appreciative to have had the opportunity to win from Goodreads First Reads, and to be able to read.
Profile Image for Conny.
1,137 reviews35 followers
March 12, 2016
I was a First Read Winner of this book, and even though I finished reading this book, I plan on referring to it many more times. I have been a caregiver for 4 years now and I felt this book really understood what it is like for me on a daily basis, and just a few helpful hints already have helped me cope a little bit better. Also it helped me see what it is like for the person I take care of from a different perspective. So overall I found the book very helpful and I recommend it to any caregiver or anybody involved in taking care of a loved one. I wished this book was around when my uncle took care of my aunt, because the weight of that responsibility took a huge toll on him.
Profile Image for Melanie.
1,076 reviews34 followers
March 25, 2016
This is a great informative read on how to handle loved ones who are going through a rough time with Dementia. I am so glad that I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway because my elderly grandmother has just started showing signs of Dementia and some of the things she is doing we are wondering if they are a sign of other diseases or just Dementia. So glad to have this book to go back to when I need to reference some actions!! Thanks for the giveaway!!
Profile Image for Peggy House.
Author 1 book3 followers
January 14, 2017
This book included unusual, yet solid advice from a practical standpoint.
Profile Image for Danni Schaust.
69 reviews1 follower
March 30, 2020
A really helpful guide to caretaking at any level of dementia. Love the incorporation of mindfulness into this form of caretaking, definitely makes it accessible to anybody and aligns with my daily yoga practices.
Profile Image for Lindsay.
474 reviews4 followers
July 12, 2023
I found this book to include a lot of really useful nuggets and practice ideas, if you’re already interested/inclined towards a mindfulness approach. Would definitely reread in the future.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

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