The Many Faces of Loss: Autobiography of the Alzheimer's Experience

England, Suzanne E.; Ganzer, Carol

doi:10.2190/il2.2.c

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…I would argue, however, that they do little to bridge the solitudes separating caregivers from those in their care, aside from building awareness and understanding -themselves valuable, but insufficient as the gap widens with disease progression. In a paper discussing experiences of loss as expressed in two autobiographies penned by Alzheimer's disease caregivers, England and Ganzer (1992) observe that,…”

Section: Personal Narrative and Disability: The Agency Of Storytellinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the family member becomes more dependent, the caregiver begins to lose his or her independence in direct proportion, also giving up time for ongoing, important productive activities. England and Ganzer (1992) identify further in the two caregiver autobiographies, a series of more devastating losses for family members and caregivers, alike (p. 18). Subsumed under the rubric of "loss of meaning", are losses of dignity and "moral certitude", including the experience of role reversal.…”

Section: Personal Narrative and Disability: The Agency Of Storytellinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because death is unpredictable, even protracted, the past history of, and future direction for, the dependent person -in essence, his or her life story -is lost to the caregiver. As England and Ganzer (1992) conclude regarding the two works that were the focus of their study, "In writing their own stories, [the caregivers] write the biographies of their loved ones so that they are now present in their absence" (p. 20)…”

Section: Personal Narrative and Disability: The Agency Of Storytellinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Narrative, Objects, and the Construction of the Self

Howarth

2019

IJIDI

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Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease know no boundaries. While this much is known, there is little beyond the medicalization of onset to provide insights into individuals instantly marginalized by a diagnosis with no future. The role of objects and storytelling in supporting the well-being and engagement of those dealing with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) has recently become an accepted strategy in non-medical interventions for the disease. Many care facilities, day programs, and associations providing support for ADRD offer reminiscence and story sharing as regular activities. Building on research undertaken to explore how objects can be used as memory cues to evoke a memory of a person, place, event, or artefact in an individual’s personal narrative, this paper makes a case for mobilizing object memoir to empower the voices of the cognitively disabled. It argues for respecting the individual storyteller, not for the person he or she once was or may become in the future, but as someone with a unique identity and an inherent value as she or he is in the present. Object memoir as a readily invoked activity not only adds to the self-worth and social efficacy of an individual with ADRD, but also fosters meaningful connection with family, friends, and other caregivers who may be experiencing the loss of their own stories as memories of a shared past fade or disappear.

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Section: Personal Narrative and Disability: The Agency Of Storytellinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Personal Narrative and Disability: The Agency Of Storytellinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Personal Narrative and Disability: The Agency Of Storytellinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Narrative, Objects, and the Construction of the Self

Howarth

2019

IJIDI

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Narrative Therapy and Elders with Memory Loss by Elizabeth Young: Narrative Means to Different Ends

England

2010

Clin Soc Work J

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Private Troubles, Master Narratives: Dilemmas of Dementia Care in a Short Story

England

2016

GERONT

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Mary Gordon's short story, Mrs. Cassidy's Last Year, is about a family trying to cope, not only with Mrs. Cassidy, who has dementia and is physically and verbally abusive, but also with her elderly husband's difficulties caring for her at home. Mr. Cassidy's dilemma, expressed through the dissonance between his private "inner talk" of emotions and desires that he feels are forbidden and shameful, and his insistence to his son and daughter-in-law that his wife is still the woman he married and her care is not too much for him. This article attempts to open up conceptual space on such questions of caregiver perceptions of the personhood (who they are now), and "personness"-the motivations and intentions-of the person with dementia; caregiver and family motivations and feeling states; and the ways that cultural narratives of obligation in family caregiving affect a caregiver's sense of self and moral certitude. In addition, the story helps us to consider the implications of a bifurcation between a caregiver's inner feelings, and what he or she understands to be the way he or she should feel and act publically. The article attempts to illustrate the interplay and tensions between narratives-master narratives from the culture, those from more immediate ideological environments, auto- and biographical stories, memories, and the stories we tell ourselves about who we are-and how these come into stark relief in the context of a radically altered intimate relationship.

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The Many Faces of Loss: Autobiography of the Alzheimer's Experience

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Narrative, Objects, and the Construction of the Self

Narrative, Objects, and the Construction of the Self

Narrative Therapy and Elders with Memory Loss by Elizabeth Young: Narrative Means to Different Ends

Private Troubles, Master Narratives: Dilemmas of Dementia Care in a Short Story

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