My Portfolio

Elva Roy Discussion started by Elva Roy, on Sunday, 11 November 2012 22:59

(c) 2008. 276 pages. Published in the U.K. and was a Sunday Times bestseller. A friend of mine emailed me a NY Times article about "Hogewey, Dementia Village" outside of Amsterdam and in the comments underneath that article, this book was mentioned so I went to my favorite source (www.amazon.com ) to find out more about Contented Dementia. 

On the cover it says "A revolutionary new way of treating dementia...brings amazing benefits for patients and carers alike" (from review by the Guardian).

On page 3, are Penny Gardner's (the author's mother-in-law and developer of this methodology) three commandments:

1. Don't ask questions (of the person with dementia). Use statements.

2. Learn from them as the experts on their disability. (She explains why what might sound like nonsensical statements from the person with dementia, the person is actually making logical sense if you take time to understand where they are in their mind as to time and location...and why they're unable to be in the present all the time).

3. Always agree with everything say, never interrupting them.

The rest of the book explains the theory, why this methodology works, case histories, etc. 

I told my good friend (whose 89-year-old mother has some dementia and their relationship is often rocky due to patterns of communication and resentments built up over a lifetime) about the technique described in this book, and she tried it and said she couldn't believe how much happier her mother is and what a great 3-day visit they had recently. She immediately ordered 3 copies of the book (one for herself, one for her sister, and one for her mother's part-time paid caregiver).