Memory Cafe Directory posts and/or links to retailers can be advertising, sponsored, or affiliate links. We may earn a small commission from them. Thank you.
A Roadmap for Living Well with Dementia
By Jonathan Graff-Radford, M.D., and Angela Lunde
The Mayo Clinic
If you’re living with dementia or caring for someone who is, you’ve likely heard a lot about the losses and the deficits that dementia can cause. You’ve probably already gotten a lot of good information on changes in the brain and how they progress over time. Or the symptoms that dementia can cause, and how they evolve.
While this is all incredibly important information to have, there’s something even more important you should know: How to live well with dementia.
It’s More Than Disease
Dementia is more than disease. It’s more than changes in the brain. It’s more than symptoms, deficits and losses. It’s also about the people living with the disease and those who support them.
With these ideas in mind, we set out to write “Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias: A Guide For People with Dementia and Those Who Care for Them.” We sat down with people living with dementia and their families, and we asked them what was important to them. What did they want to know? What would help them most?
The answers we received taught us that dementia is not just about decline and loss; that there are ways to move forward, on a new path toward well-being and hope.
In turn, this feedback helped us reshape the first edition of the book, published in 2013. Much has changed in the world of dementia since then, so we worked toward capturing what’s new in terms of what we know about dementia. This includes not only our understanding of what’s happening in the brain, but also what people can do to live well as those changes are taking place.
The end result is a 414-page guide to living with dementia; a comprehensive and holistic roadmap toward well-being.
Hope for Living Well with Dementia
The main message we hope readers will take from the book is this: There is hope for people living with dementia and their care partners, and a good and full life can occur alongside a diagnosis. Scientists are learning more every day about how the diseases that cause dementia start, how they progress, what treatments are on the horizon, and lifestyles that can reduce the risk of developing dementia.
But just as important, experts know now more than ever before all the ways that people can live well alongside dementia. In the world of dementia, there truly is hope.
Jonathan Graff-Radford, M.D.
Dr. Graff-Radford is a behavioral neurologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he evaluates and treats patients with cognitive disorders, including dementia.
Dr. Graff-Radford also serves as a co-investigator in the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. Dr. Graff-Radford has published more than 100 articles and written chapters for books on cognition, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Angela M. Lunde, M.A.
Angela has worked in dementia care for nearly 20 years. She is a co-investigator of the Outreach, Recruitment and Education Core in the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, where she focuses on the emotional well-being and quality of life of those living with dementia and their care partners.
She has helped create innovative programs aimed at helping people affected by dementia live well. She has co-authored numerous articles, written several book chapters, and maintained an expert blog on dementia caregiving for more than a decade.
“Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias: A guide for people with dementia and those who care for them” is available from Amazon, in print and Kindle versions.
Connect with the Mayo Clinic
Online: Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center website
Be our next Guest Author!
Read more Guest Author stories or
learn how you can be a Guest Author
here on Memory Cafe Directory.