Booklist – Useful Reading (Directions 2008)

The Simplicity of Dementia: A Guide for Family and Carers (Paperback)

by Huub Buijssen (Author) “Living with, and caring for, a partner/relative with dementia is often far from easy …”
£13.49*
This is a short, elegant, clear book which is a very good starting point for anyone whose friend or relative is diagnosed with dementia. The author has a wealth of experience with dementia patients and their carers, and immense compassion, and it shows. He gently and simply explains what happens as dementia progresses, and makes sense of behaviour which carers can find incomprehensible. He offers valuable pointers on how to cope with dementia, always focusing on the humanity of the patient, and the importance of their feelings, e.g. by using touch, tone. A very valuable book.

Is the Cooker Turned Off? Caring for an Older Person with Failing Memory (Paperback)

by Josephine Woolf (Author), Michael Woolf (Author) “This book is about caring for an older person with failing memory …”
£6.49*
This book is essential reading for any carer of someone with failing memory. This book shares the professional knowledge of physiological, psychological and practical expertise which could enhance the lives of both the carer and, the person they are caring for.

Now Where Did I Put My Glasses? Caring for Your Parents – A Practical and Emotional Lifeline (Paperback) by Jackie Highe (Author)
£8.44
A very readable book on a very difficult subject that affects us all sooner or later. Good advice about keeping the communication channels open and looking at the positive side and even the amusing incidents and remarks not always easy to appreciate when one is dealing with a problem. I was particularly moved by the chapter on “Mental Disorders” – great practical advice and useful addresses.

A Funny Old World and Beside the Seaside (Hardbacks) by Pictures to Share Community Interest Company (a not for profit social enterprise that produces visual resources for people with dementia)
£17.50 & £15 respectively
Large picture books aimed at stimulating conversation among carers and people with dementia. These books have been researched and designed by Helen Bate who struggled to find visual resources to engage with her mother who had dementia. She said “my mother was immediately engaged by the books and they were a great distraction when things were happening, for example chiropody, which she didn’t enjoy”. To request a Pictures to Share brochure contact Helen on 01829 262565 or email [email protected]

How You Can Survive When They’re Depressed: Living and Coping with Depression Fallout (Paperback) by Anne Sheffield (Author)
£8.99*
One reviewer said “I read this when my partner was experiencing a particularly low depressive episode, and I was beginning to doubt that I could cope. I felt isolated, insecure, and as though I had lost the person I loved the most in the world. Reading this book helped me in so many ways: to understand more of what he was experiencing, the effect this was having on me, the effect this was having on our relationship and how I shouldn’t take his depression personally. It helped me realise that to continue to help support him, I needed to support and look after myself more. The book provided me with some of that much-needed support. Well worth reading.”

Dancing with Dementia: My Story of Living Positively with Dementia (Paperback) by Christine Bryden
£11.66*
A reviewer said “Reading Dancing with Dementia is a must for any person who has been diagnosed with Dementia, Professional or Carer. The book is truly inspirational and Christine is so positive about her journey. As a professional, I found that it helped confirm where we had got it right and thus continue to carry on and move forward but it also highlights the road that we still need to travel if we are to deliver a truly person centred approach. The book took me 4 hours to read – I couldn’t put it down!”

Caring for Loved Ones in Old Age: Being a Carer, Paying for Care and Choosing a Care Home: Care for the Elderly (Paperback) by Counsel And Care (Author)
£8.15*
One of the biggest challenges facing society is how we look after the growing number of older people. Medical advances have given us longer, healthier lives, but the cost is the demands placed on us as individuals, families and communities try to care for parents, relatives and friends in later life. This book provides guidance on a subject that most of us will have to face, but which few of us know very much about. It explains what help carers, and those they look after, can expect from the state, and the other self-funded options available.

Past Caring (Paperback) by Audrey Jenkinson (Author) “Reading about other people in similar situations gave me a sense of not being quite so alone but somehow connected to the world …”
£8.49*
Actress Audrey Jenkinson was starring in a BBC television series when she put her career on hold and returned home to Edinburgh to care for her mother suffering from a stroke and her father with cancer. In Past Caring, she describes how she tried to cope with her parents’ deaths and recalls the ‘void’ she felt at the time: “I wondered how others coped in similar situations. When I discovered there were no books on the subject, I decided to write one.” Audrey travelled throughout the UK, interviewing former carers and asking them how they rebuilt their lives. Past Caring also includes a twelve-step recovery guide for ‘past carers’.

* Guide prices taken from Amazon.co.uk March 2008 and subject to change.