I'm Still Here: A Breakthrough Approach to Understanding Someone Living With Alzheimer's »

John Zeisel is the president and cofounder of Hearthstone Alzheimer Care. He developed the Artists for Alzheimer's™ program, which involves guided museum tours for people with the disease. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia University, and has taught at Harvard, Yale, and McGill universities. His work has been covered in The New York Times; O, The Oprah Magazine; The Boston Globe; and on ABC, CNN, and the BBC.

A glass-half-full look at Alzheimer's that reveals how to connect with someone through the fog of the disease.

As many as five million Americans are living with Alzheimer's. The popular perception of the disease is that people who receive an Alzheimer's diagnosis are lost to themselves and to those who love them—and that they have no future. But as John Zeisel, an innovator in nonpharmacological approaches to treating Alzheimer's, makes clear in this book, this view is wrong. The disease often lasts ten to fifteen years—a time span that definitely constitutes a future. In I'm Still Here, Zeisel shows that during the course of Alzheimer's, caregivers can have a vibrant and meaningful relationship with people who have the disease.

I'm Still Here focuses on connecting with individuals with Alzheimer's through their abilities that don't diminish with time, such as understanding music, art, facial expressions, and touch. Zeisel demonstrates that people who have the disease are highly creative and emotionally intelligent. By harnessing these capacities, and by using other approaches to treatment—such as building memory cues into their living environment, which encourages independent movement and helps eliminate sources of frustration—it's possible to offer them a quality life with connection to others and to the world.

1 Embracing Alzheimer's: A New Philosophy of Care 1

2 The Alzheimer's Journey: The Symptoms and Progression of the Disease 26

3 The Alzheimer's Brain: The Good News and the Bad News 55

4 Art and Alzheimer's: How to Connect With Someone Through Visual Art 79

5 The Dramatic Arts: Music, Poetry, Theater, Films, and the Circus 105

6 Treatment by Design: How Appropriate Living Spaces Encourage Independence and Well-Being 136

7 Building a New Relationship: The Five Rules of Communication and the Seven Rules of Relationship Building 152

8 Appreciating the New Relationship: Accepting the Changes in a Loved One Living With Alzheimer's 177

9 A Two-Way Street: Why Changing Yourself Is Vital to Effective Treatment 188

10 The Gifts of Alzheimer's: Insights Gained from Learning to Give and Receive 216

11 Being in the Present Moment: A Mindfulness Meditation 232

Acknowledgments 243

References 249

Index 255