Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Aging Parents: How to Help, How to Survive [Paperback]

Claire Berman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2001

A completely revised edition of this guidebook for adult children who care for aging parents, with new information on nursing homes and an updated resource section.

This helpful, compassionate guide for individuals who are involved in caring for aging parents, (and for those who see caretaking in their future) centers on the emotional stresses and needs of caregivers, while at the sametime addressing all the practical issues they are likely to confront. Claire Berman--drawing on her own experiences, the experiences of many other adult children, and interviews with specialists in geriatrics--discusses the wide range of emotions that can accompany caregiving.

Caring for Yourself, While Caring for Your Aging Parents provides the confidence and practical tools necessary to balance the needs of the parent and the caregiver. Berman provides an invaluable safety net for those going through a difficult time and emphasizes that the caregiver safeguard his or her own physical and emotional health to avoid becoming the burned-out "second patient. Berman shows how to choose dedication over martyrdom and self-preservation over selflessness. There is also sensible advice on common dilemmas caregivers encounter, including those involving adult day-care, in-home care, support groups, sibling tension, and marital conflicts.

Completely revised with a new chapter on nursing homes, as well as updated statistics and resources throughout, CARING FOR YOURSELF WHILE CARING FOR YOUR AGING PARENTS shows readers that there is much they can do to help themselves and their parents through the stressful and humbling challenges that so many of us face today.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Berman (Making It as a Stepparent) here offers an empathetic guide to caring for elderly parents. Drawing from personal experience, research and anecdotal reports, she cogently addresses the emotional and physical problems involved, all the while emphasizing the importance of caring for oneself. Following the overview delivered in introductory chapters, Berman examines such specific areas as financing, trying to care for needy parents long-distance, sharing the care among siblings and coping with loss. Keeping a clear eye on the emotional component, which is inevitably involved in decisions in which children become responsible for their parents, Berman delivers sensible advice and practical help. Appendices include a Caregiver's Bill of Rights; lists of support organizations, including state departments on aging, with addresses and phone numbers; a bibliography; and a suggested reading list.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Caregiving for an aging individual evokes an emotional roller coaster of feelings and needs in the caregiver, all of which call for recognition and resolution. Through an expert weave of personal stories, her own experience, and expert advice from others, author Berman (Making It As a Stepparent, Carol, 1992) speaks directly to the emotional, practical, and financial aspects of caregiving. Berman writes in an easy-to-read and -relate-to style. Among the topics she looks at in this unique emotional resource are communication, boundary-setting, attention to the caregiver's needs, the guilt involved in long-distance caregiving, sibling stress, decision-making, loss and grief, the nursing home dilemma, and the future picture for caregivers. She provides a listing of helpful resources, a caregiver bill of rights, and a suggested bibliography. This is truly a one-of-a-kind book, with practical suggestions aimed at validating and supporting the caregiver's emotional coping mechanisms. Highly recommended for general collections.?Linda Malone, Walter Reed Hospice, Newport News, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; 2nd edition (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080506804X
• ISBN-13: 978-0805068047
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,109,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

How do people cope with challenging relationships? That question has guided my professional life. How do we form adoptive relationships, come together in remarried families, deal with divorce and its aftermath, care for ailing parents, survive schizophrenia, and--in my latest work--grieve and cope with the death of a sister or brother, our lifelong companion.

I feel privileged that so many people have let me into their lives by sharing their stories and coping strategies, and pleased when they tell me I have conveyed them well. The highlight, however, is hearing from readers who my work has touched and helped.

Please visit me at www.claireberman.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a treasure trove of info no matter how old your parents are, March 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Aging Parents: How to Help, How to Survive (Paperback)

Although my mother has some serious health problems, she's still in her fifties, so I hesitated at first to read this book. I thought there was no way it could be relevant to adults whose parents are ill but not elderly. I was wrong. This book was a godsend as my siblings and I scrambled around trying to figure out what we needed to do and how we could do it. I've referred to it again and again, not just for practical help with my mom's needs, but emotional support for myself. What a tremendous resource this book is.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable assistance for devastating problems, October 18, 1999

By 

Pat Goldstein (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Aging Parents: How to Help, How to Survive (Paperback)

This book is a must for anyone dealing with the monumental problems that can arise as parents get older. Ms. Berman provides important information, reassurance, and support that help caregivers deal sensitively and effectively with issues that had previously been overwhelming their lives. For oneself and as a gift to others, this is a jewel.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great info for all types & ages of cargeivers, July 3, 2001

By 

2gether 4ever (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Aging Parents: How to Help, How to Survive (Paperback)

Claire Berman gives fabulous examples for all types of caregiver situations. The information is a valuable tool in handling a wide range of issues, from a parent's early needs, to full nursing care. The book aids caregivers with making medical and financial decisions for elderly parents and finding help in the community without jeopardizing your loved one's independence. In addition, it encourages the reader to find the right caregiver support group and keep a clear focus on your own family needs/priorities.