When a Loved One Has Dementia: A Comforting Companion for Family and Friends

"An open-hearted and honest look at the reality of caring for someone with this life-changing diagnosis. Eveline generously shares her experiences, insights, and practical tools to cultivate compassion, acceptance, and love, even during the most painful experiences."--Dr. Nicole LePera, New York Times-bestselling author of How to Do the Work

A vital source of solace and compassion for those whose loved one has dementia, rooted in the author's unflinching experience of caring for her mother

Dementia enters life through the back door, slipping in unnoticed. Once it's there, it can make you feel powerless, angry, and unsure how to move forward. When her mother developed dementia, Eveline Helmink wasn't prepared. As she learned firsthand, when your loved one is suffering, it takes a toll on you, too.

As you navigate finding professional caregivers and adapting to your loved one's behavioral challenges, this book will help you confront all the complexities of the experience.

• Identify healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms.
• Work through feelings of denial, grief, guilt, shame, and fear.
• Summon the courage to make decisions in your loved one's best interest.
• Live in the present, find laughter, and show love in the face of dementia.

When a Loved One Has Dementia weaves together Eveline's unflinching personal account and her empathetic guidance, allowing you to walk through the endless tunnel and illuminating the path to acceptance, forgiveness, and love.

ISBN-13: 9781615199341

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: The Experiment - LLC

Publication Date: 08-08-2023

Pages: 224

Product Dimensions: 5.60(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

EVELINE HELMINK is a licensed coach practitioner, working one-on-one with clients on themes such as grief, change, and acceptance. She is also a journalist, magazine editor, and the author of The Handbook for Bad Days.She works as an editor in chief at the international media brand Happinez, which shares insights and inspiration for personal growth and a meaningful life. Her mother lives with dementia. She lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Table of Contents

Contents

Foreword
What I want to make clear to start
Know yourself
About dementia and fumbling around in the dark
Wanting to turn a blind eye
Forgiving yourself
Who are you, faced with dementia?
Self-compassion matters too
Useful information
How coping mechanisms work
The five stages of grief
The phenomenon of the “family soul”
The hard stuff
Shame
Guilt
Anger
Denial
Sorrow
Fear
Fatigue
Asking for help
Dementia and meaningfulness
The value of stories
Suffering
Spiritual bypassing
Learning to trust Cosmic awareness
An animated nature
Speaking about God
What would my mother make of it?
About the “self”
Intuition and the “self”
Why?
Accepting the situation
Acceptance
Forgiveness
Living in the moment
Selflessness
Relief
Rays of hope
Love
Humor
Connections
What really matters
Gratitude
Masks off
Self-confidence
Healing
Joy
And finally Show More