The Emotional Survival Guide for Caregivers: Looking After Yourself and Your Family While Helping an Aging Parent - Hardcover

Jacobs, Barry J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1593852959 ISBN 13: 9781593852955

Publisher: The Guilford Press, 2006

Synopsis

Caring for a parent whose health is in decline turns the world upside down. The emotional fallout can be devastating, but it doesn't have to be that way. Empathic guidance from an expert who's been there can help. Through an account of two sisters and their ailing mother--interwoven with no-nonsense advice--The Emotional Survival Guide for Caregivers helps family members navigate tough decisions and make the most of their time together as they care for an aging parent. The author urges readers to be honest about the level of commitment they're able to make and emphasizes the need for clear communication within the family. While acknowledging their guilt, stress, and fatigue, he helps caregivers reaffirm emotional connections worn thin by the routine of daily care. This compassionate book will help families everywhere avoid burnout and preserve bonds during one of life's most difficult passages.

About this title

About the Author

Barry J. Jacobs, PsyD, works with couples and families coping with serious health problems. He has faculty appointments at Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Widener University, and is the Director of Behavioral Sciences for the Crozer-Keystone Family Medicine Residency Program in Springfield, Pennsylvania. He is also a widely published journalist who has written extensively for The Village Voice and other publications. Currently, he writes an advice column for Take Care!, the quarterly newsletter of the National Family Caregivers Association and edits the In Sickness & Health column for the journal Families, Systems & Health. He lives with his wife and their two children in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

Review

"Guidelines, advice, and questions for the reader are interspersed with the narrative. This insightful book is an important guide for any family trying to care for a loved one." -- Family Caregiver Alliance Update

"His Q&A approach...is perceptive without being intrusive, instructive without being dogmatic, informative without being technical, compassionate without being maudlin and focuses on problem solving without being cookie-cutter in approach. Even if you are not now a caregiver, it is an important read since many of you will probably become one sooner than later." -- eNN: Eldercare Network News

"Jacobs has a gripping writing style and a passion for the subject that sustain the reader during even the heaviest of topics. His use of the narrative makes the book easy to follow, while creating natural places to interject advice from his extensive knowledge about the stresses of caregiving. He addresses the touchy subjects that caregivers might be ashamed or afraid to ask about, reassuring them that feelings of resentment, guilt, and isolation are normal reactions that go with the territory of caregiving." -- Newsday

"There's plenty of practical advice on communication and finding meaning in suffering, but Jacobs's most valuable contribution is that he lays out the most dreadful selfish, unworthy thoughts anyone looking after a terminally ill parent could possibly have--and then assures us: Everyone feels that way." -- Philadelphia

"Wise material....A collection of questions and answers explores different facets of the caregiving task and offers specific tips and strategies for success. The resources section lists a variety of organizations, publications, and web sites....Highly recommended." -- Library Journal (starred review)

About this edition

• Publisher: The Guilford Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1593852959
• ISBN 13: 9781593852955
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 261