Keeping Love Alive through Alzheimer’s By Dr. Paula joyce
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Dr. Gary Chapmanâauthor, speaker, pastor, and counselorâhas a passion for people and for helping them build lasting relationships. He is an internationally recognized marriage counselor and the author of The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts, which has been translated into 50 languages and has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide. Now, Dr. Chapman has teamed up with health education specialist Deborah Barr, and physician and mental health counselor Edward Shaw, MD to write Keeping Love Alive as Memories Fade: The 5 Love Languages and the Alzheimerâs Journey. The book offers an innovative new application of the five love languages as tools that can help us sustain an emotional relationship with a parent or partner with Alzheimerâs. Please visit Dr. Gary Chapman online at www.5LoveLanguages.com.
There’s a touching scene between a son and his aging mother in the new movie, Collateral Beauty. She starts a conversation that lacks a basis in current reality. Her son does something I’ve never seen before. Instead of trying to bring her back to his reality, he joins her fantasy world and keeps their connection alive with his open loving heart. He took what could have been a frustrating and potentially anger-filled interaction and made it into a joyful one. Alzheimer’s is a growing problem. Forty-seven million people worldwide are afflicted with the disease. It takes an enormous toll on the care-givers, who are usually the spouses or children. Most cannot afford private care and do not have access to paid social services. The result is that 40% of care-givers fall into a clinical depression. The positive feelings from a loving act reduce the patient’s agitation, which lightens the caregiver’s burden. Please join us Thursday to learn how to share love in a way that benefits everyone.
