Travelers to Unimaginable Lands: Stories of Dementia, the Caregiver, and the Human Brain

These moving and often surprising (The Wall Street Journal) case histories meld science and storytelling to show that caregivers dont just witness cognitive decline in their loved ones with dementiathey are its invisible victims. This book will forever change the way we see people with dementia disordersand the people who care for them.Lori Gottlieb, author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone Inspired by Dasha Kipers experience as a caregiver and counselor and informed by a breadth of cognitive and neurological research, Travelers to Unimaginable Lands dispels the myth of the perfect caregiver. In these compassionate, nonjudgmental stories of parents and children, husbands and wives, contending with dementia disorders, Kiper explores the existential dilemmas created by this disease: a man believes his wife is an impostor; a womans imaginary friendships with famous authors drive a wedge between her and her devoted husband; another womans childhood trauma emerges to torment her son; a mans sudden, intense Catholic piety provokes his wife. Kiper explains why the caregivers are maddened by these behaviors, mirroring their patients irrationality, even though theyve been told its the disease at work. By demystifying the neurological obstacles to caregiving, Kiper illuminates the terrible pressure dementia disorders exert on our closest relationships, offering caregivers the perspective they need to be gentler with themselves.