Loving Someone Who Has Dementia Book Chapter Summary, Part One

Loving Someone Who Has Dementia: How to Find Hope While Coping with Stress and Grief is a new kind of caregiving book by Pauline Boss.

The book excerpt below is a “brief summary of the chapters, so that you can best decide which area to focus on as you read.”

Chapter One, “The Ambiguous Loss of Dementia,” explains what ambiguous loss is, how it relates to you, and why it can cause depression and anxiety.

Chapter Two, “The Complications of Both Loss and Grief,” makes the case that unresolved loss causes unresolved grief. What this means for you is that your complicated grief is to be expected. It is not your fault. The complicated grief is ambiguous loss—in this case, by the dementia, which requires a special kind of grieving.

Chapter Three, “Stress, Coping, and Resiliency,” helps you identify your own stress issues more specifically. Once you have done this, your coping can begin. Knowing what the problem is allows you to deal with it. How caregivers do this will differ depending on their beliefs and values.

Chapter Four, “The Myth of Closure,” tells you why closure is the wrong goal with dementia, and what you can learn from the many people who live comfortably without it. Many caregivers embrace the ambiguity rather than fight it; they offer much you can learn from about living with ambiguity and uncertainty.

You can purchase the book at a discount from our store. Read part two of the book chapter summary.