Meaning
Critical Dementia Skill #1 Finding Meaning in Dementia
This is the first installment in the Critical Dementia Skills (CDS) series. For more information on the series, start HERE. You can also click on the CDS tags in the blog for more. Could we have started the Critical Dementia Skills (CDS) Series with a larger topic? People have pondered the meaning of life for thousands and thousands of years. They’ve also thought about the meaning of suffering for that long. Certainly, people have wondered about the meaning of dementia since it has become a phenomenon in society.
Pope Benedict XVI on Suffering
What is Ambiguous Loss ?
It’s called “ambiguous loss,” that complicated grief that impacts many dementia care partners because their loved one is “physically present, but psychologically absent.” Professor Emeritus Pauline Boss has been studying ambiguous loss since it was the topic of her doctoral dissertation over forty years ago. I discovered ambiguous loss while listening to a podcast three years ago and it made me think about my support group members who said they were grieving the loss of the loved one,
Finding Meaning in Care Partnering
I believe that one of the most powerful tools in the dementia care partner’s toolbox is finding meaning in the challenging situation. I also feel that one of the most difficult topics to bring up is the same…finding meaning. After all, who am I to suggest that there is a purpose in this ordeal, or losing a spouse to the syndrome, or as some put it “becoming a parent to my parent”? Sometimes I will throw the topic it out to my support group and pray to not get dirty looks,
