Travellers to Unimaginable Lands: Dementia, Carers and the Hidden Workings of the Mind

(Hardback, Main)

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A husband believes his wife is an imposter. A man's sudden, intense Catholic piety provokes his wife. A mother and daughter struggle to come to terms with the disease that intensifies an already dependent relationship.

At their root, these existential dilemmas grow out of long-established patterns of behaviour that bind together patients and caregivers. Travellers to Unimaginable Lands explores the complex and profound psychology of caregiving, illuminating how the healthy brain's biases and intuitions make caring for people with dementia disorders so profoundly and inherently difficult.

Blending neuroscience, psychology, philosophy and literature with beautifully-observed case studies, Kiper illuminates the underlying mental mechanisms behind carers' experiences, dispels the myth of the perfect caregiver and, in the process, opens the door to understanding and forgiveness.

Reviews

'This book will forever change the way we see people with dementia disorders-and the people who care for them. Kiper compassionately illuminates the complex bond between us and our loved ones suffering from cognitive decline, surprising us with what we can learn about ourselves through this experience and the ways our own minds both deceive us and make us uniquely human' - Lori Gottlieb, New York Times-bestseller author

'It is no simple matter to live with a person who blatantly disregards the rules of time, order, and continuity. So instead of offering platitudes or words of spiritual redemption, I want to normalize the caregiver's denial, anger, frustration, and helplessness by explaining why these miscommunications happen. This, I hope, will validate their struggles and remove the stigma of failing to live up to an impossible ideal.' - Dasha Kiper

Author Bio

Dasha Kiper is the clinical consulting director of support groups at The CaringKind (formerly 'The Alzheimer's Association'). She was born in Russia, raised in San Francisco, and makes her home in New York. She first became a live-in caregiver as a graduate student at Columbia University where she received an MA in Clinical Psychology. For the past decade she has counseled caregivers, led support groups, and trained and supervised mental health professionals, as well as former caregivers, who now lead support groups.