Caregiving Without Regrets: 3 Steps to Avoid Burnout and Manage Disappointment, Guilt, and Anger [Paperback]

Dr. Vicki Rackner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0976943034 | ISBN-13: 978-0976943037 | Edition: First

Throw out the caregiving rule book and mold your caregiving to your unique circumstances. You don't have to be a perfect caregiver, just be perfectly you.
For your new-found, designated, or nobody-else-can-do-this role as caregiver, this book provides tips and action steps to help you...
-Understand the challenges of caregiving in the face of despair and disappointment
-Gather greater insight about yourself to avoid burnout and anger
-Trust that good enough is good enough (no time for guilt)
-Share the caregiving with others (everybody can do something)
-Care for yourself and why you must
-Keep hope alive as you evolve into the best caregiver you can be

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dr. Vicki Rackner gets it. She listens and has a true understanding of the day-to-day challenges hard-working, overwhelmed caregivers face. Then with compassion and humor she offers practical ideas about what steps to take next. On dark days, Dr. Vicki offers the light of hope and optimism. She helps people connect with caregiving as an act of love. --Nancy Lewin, Director, The Caregiver Initiative, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Company

Vicki Rackner, MD, offers the ultimate caregiver prescription--the knowledge that you are not alone, a roadmap for getting and staying connected, and the magical elixir of hope. --Ed Hallowell, MD, Child and adult psychiatrist and best-selling author

What a find. An easy-to-read, common-sense book about helping people be better caregivers by taking better care of themselves. Having been in the position of caregiver to both a child with a chronic illness and an ailing elderly parent, I wish I'd had a book like this to help guide my way. This should be required reading for everyone who steps up to the caregiving role. --Linda J. Popky, President, L2M Associates, Inc.

About the Author

Vicki Rackner, MD, a board-certified surgeon and founder of The Caregiver Club, has been on all sides of the dire diagnosis: as a patient facing a life-threatening medical condition, as the doctor delivering a dreadful diagnosis, and as a family caregiver advocating for sick loved ones.

Product Details

• Paperback: 151 pages
• Publisher: Caregiver Club Press; First edition (June 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976943034
• ISBN-13: 978-0976943037
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,112,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A top pick for those who want to beat their own guilt and do their best, January 9, 2010

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Caregiving Without Regrets: 3 Steps to Avoid Burnout and Manage Disappointment, Guilt, and Anger (Paperback)

Being in charge of another adult is a tough job. "Caregiving Without Regrets: 3 Steps to Avoid Burnout and Manage Disappointment, Guilt, and Anger" is a guide for those who want to give the best care possible but are wracked with not living up to expectations. With advice on getting in the right mindset, dealing with failure, and remembering to take care of oneself when things look bad. "Caregiving Without Regrets" is a top pick for those who want to beat their own guilt and do their best.

3.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't address guilt or anger when dealing with a "difficult" parent, October 12, 2011

By 

S. Holland "Alby's Mum" (Cromwell, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Caregiving Without Regrets: 3 Steps to Avoid Burnout and Manage Disappointment, Guilt, and Anger (Paperback)

This book gives good advice on basic caregiving - possibly more applicable for one who is caregiving for a terminally ill parent or a spouse, with whom they have a close relationship. It does not deal with the guilt and anger that can come from dealing with a live-in elderly parent with a "difficult" temperament. This book actually made me feel worse in some respects since I am trying to encourage my MIL to be more independent. Certainly, this was not the author's intention, which leads me to believe that the caregiving relationships that she describes are of a different nature than mine...either that or I am a terrible caregiver (aw, back to the guilt).

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Ideas for Managing the Seemingly Unmanageable, July 10, 2011

By 

W. George (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Caregiving Without Regrets: 3 Steps to Avoid Burnout and Manage Disappointment, Guilt, and Anger (Paperback)

I've been a caregiver for 20 years... it's been a job with requirements that change every few months. Even with that experience, I picked up at least a dozen great tips from "Dr. Vicki's" excellent book on the art and science of effective caregiving, and caring for yourself along the way. As someone who's been on every side of the caregiving equation--patient, doctor and caregiver--Vicki Rackner brings perspective to the subject that few have. One example: "The most successful caregivers are those who spend time doing what's easy for them and join forces with others for the things that are hard." It's simple advice, but hardly common wisdom. Caregiving Without Regrets is full of such gems.