Psychodynamic Approaches to the Experience of Dementia: Perspectives from Observation, Theory and Practice

Description

Psychodynamic Approaches to the Experience of Dementia: Perspectives from Observation, Theory and Practice demonstrates the impact of healthcare approaches that take into account not only the practical needs but also the emotional experience of the patient, their partners, families and friends, lay carers and professional staff. Currently there is no cure for dementia, but the psychosocial and therapeutic approaches described in this volume have appeared to help people, both patients and carers, feel more contained and less lonely and isolated. Psychoanalytic theory provides a disciplined way of thinking about the internal world of an individual and their relationships. Each author provides their own commentary on the personal and interpersonal effects of dementia, endeavouring to understand behaviours and emotions which may otherwise seem incomprehensible. The subject is approached from a psychodynamic perspective, considering the unconscious, previous and current experiences and relationships, including those between patients and staff. Psychodynamic Approaches to the Experience of Dementia illustrates the practical and theoretical thinking of clinicians from a wide range of disciplines who are engaged in the care of people in late life with a diagnosis of dementia. It will be essential reading for mental health and health professionals in practice and training in the field of dementia. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents List of figures and illustrations List of contributors Foreword Acknowledgements Introduction 1 Encountering dementia 2 Where lies the expert? 3 Working with people with mild neurocognitive disorders (mild NCD) or mild cognitive impairments (MCI) 4 Prognosis and planning: advance care planning through a psychoanalytic frame 5 The experience of loss in dementia; melancholia without the mourning? 6 Dementia and dialogue: acute hospitals and Liaison psychiatry 7 Psychodynamic interventions in dementia: the Australian and New Zealand experience 8 Art therapy with people with dementia: the present and the past 9 Attachment in confusional states and in dementia: theory into practice 10 The fragile thread of connection: living as a couple with dementia 11 Maintaining boundaries: counselling in a care home 12 Music as mirror in the care of elderly people with dementia 13 Groups for people with cognitive impairment and with dementia: what should we be doing? 14 Disintegration and integration in dementia care: mentalization as a means to keep whole 15 A psychoanalytic and philosophical exploration of boredom and disengagement in dementia 16 Continuing care review: a report on a thoughtful project and its untimely demise 17 Negotiating the border: music therapy for people in the last hours of dementia 18 Can anything good be born of a dementia: potential for reparation? Index