Over the last ten years a number of new concepts have emerged within social psychology, gerontology, socio-linguistics and psychotherapy which present a challenge to the view of dementia as simply an organic illness. These ideas have led to service innovations including the development of support groups for people with dementia; the adaptation of psychotherapeutic approaches to this client group; and the development of methods of care evaluation from the perspective of the dementia sufferer. This book seeks to summarize these 'new' ideas thereby bringing together, for the first time, a wide range of critical thinking relating to old age and dementia.The authors aim to advance a psychological framework from which to understand the experience of dementia from the perspective of the dementia sufferer, so making intelligible the symptoms of dementia and setting out new avenues of care such as the need to adopt psychotherapeutic/counselling approaches as an integral part of care. Including background, clear argument and practical guidelines, this insightful and comprehensive study makes an important contribution to the currently emerging trend in dementia care towards person-centred work.
Part 1 The contemporary scene: a time of change; what is dementia?; the creation and re-creation of Alzheimer's disease; what is wrong with the organic model?, the implications of the organic model; therapeutic disdain - therapy, therapists and older people with dementia. Part 2 A psychological model: seeing the person in context - the sociological, the social and the social psychological; a model of the mind in dementia - an initial framework; the person-focused approach - what is it like to be a person diagnozed as having dementia?; the emotional world - coping with destruction of self/identity. Part 3 Applying the psychological model: improving the quality of assesment - a systemic approach; therapeutic interventions; later interventions; implications of our model for service delivery and future development. Part 4 Forces in the future: the kings and queens on the chessboard; restless farewell.
Understanding Dementia has been written for a diverse readership including direct careworkers, planners and policy makers... Its style is direct, accessible and sometimes outspoken. The book is an ambitious one. It presents the first truly psychological model of dementia and sets this, and its service implications, within a historical, social, economic and political context.
