Brain Blog Clinic

Review by for Keeping Busy: A Handbook of Activities for Persons with Dementia
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Look up dementia in the dictionary: from the Latin; out from the mind, severe mental deficiency or impairment. This can include anything from alzheimer patients to manic-depressives even obsessive-compulsion disorders. There is alot of that going around lately.This activity book attempts to help those in need of finding positive outlets for frustrated energies. A place for a person to remember the good things, let the little things go and strive to move foreward.Lacking was an effective way to work with these type of people. Just listing an activity, such as making a photo album, or writing a journal, still does not cover the enormous amount of patience one must have to direct one of dementia. Most of them are disabled and or retired and need therapy. This workbook alone could not do the trick. It might be of some help to people who must live around the demented. Thus 3 stars, thanks–CDS

Review by jakub for Keeping Busy: A Handbook of Activities for Persons with Dementia
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Because of the many phrases, songs, games that refer to things anyone born from 1910 to 1950 might remember, it was exceedingly fun and appropriate to go through things with my TBI husband. We laughed and said, Have to sing that for our grandchildren” and reminded each other of the answers. I could see the author’s view of older people not wanting to do, say, art, then speaking of their brother who painted, and gradually having a wonderful time. I had occasion to refer this book to someone whose mother was just diagnosed, and I did so enthusiastically. Makes me wonder what the dementia patients who were born past the 70s will have that’s as much fun as these old songs and cliches. The trick is to play WITH the patients and listen to their resulting stories–don’t just throw the book their direction.