Hiding the Stranger in the Mirror: A Detective's Manual for Solving Problems Associated with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders

by Cameron J. Camp

Dr. Cameron J. Camp, internationally-recognized scholar, author and trainer has written a new book, called Hiding the Stranger in the Mirror: A Detective’s Manual for Solving Problems Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders. As the Baby Boom generation ages, growing numbers of people are impacted by dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related disorders. By the year 2020, 53 million people in the U.S. are expected to be over the age of 65. Accompanying the rise in the older population, the number of people in the U.S. diagnosed with AD is expected to exceed 15 million by 2050, out of a total of 80 million worldwide. Writing with wit and compassion, Dr. Camp aims to help his audience better understand how the disease affects memory, and how memory loss may affect behavior. Going against conventional “wisdom,” the author stresses that the key to successfully caring for persons with dementia is to focus on their strengths rather than their weaknesses – to see the person and not a disease. His entertaining and insightful book examines cases based on real individuals to illustrate common challenging behaviors and how to approach these challenges. Readers are given tools and resources to understand why persons with dementia do what they do, to help them solve their own “cases,” and, more importantly, they are given a more hopeful way of thinking about Alzheimer’s disease and those who live with it.
“We are not helpless in the face of Alzheimer’s disease and associated illnesses. We can best care for ourselves and our loved ones with dementia by embracing the humanity that exists, and has always existed, within each other.” (Cameron J. Camp, Ph.D., from the Author’s Preface to Hiding the Stranger in the Mirror)

190 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2012

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given to us by the retirement community that our MIL moved into, which was reassuring. The author describes a Montessori based approach for helping people with dementia continue to live well and to learn, whether they’re being cared for at home or in a community. The author’s approach focuses on figuring out why behaviors are happening and using the abilities these folks retain to help them learn new ways of doing things. He describes many (MANY) specific cases as examples, and explains why each solution works, with reference to psychological principles like classical conditioning and spaced retrieval. The book doesn’t delve into the medical science of dementia; rather it’s a practical manual for how to handle things like repetitive questions, outbursts, and strange behaviors (the striptease examples were hilarious - sex workers get old too!) It offers caregivers strategies that can be used at all stages of dementia, which is a hopeful thing to read.

It’s not the easiest book to sit down and read all at once, even though it’s quite short. The case studies are brief but there are a lot of them, so I had to pace myself. I think we’ll keep it for reference, and some of the ideas can also work with people who have other issues like developmental disabilities, stroke, or traumatic brain injury.

[Shivani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good case study stories regarding dementia through lived careworkers experience at adult day health centers in Ohio . But I don't know why the layout of the book was in a detective style layout in order to engage the reader eg headings were victim, perp, gathering evidence etc it didn't make any sense given the context/contents of this book.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of ideas and troubleshooting for challenging behaviors