Unforgotten Love and the Culture of Dementia Care in India [Hardcover]

As life expectancy increases in India, the number of people living with dementia will also rise. Yet little is known about how people in India cope with dementia, how relationships and identities change through illness and loss. In addressing this question, this book offers a rich ethnographic account of how middle-class families in urban India care for their relatives with dementia. From the husband who wakes up at 3 am to feed his wife ice-cream to the daughters who gave up employment for seven years to care for their mother with dementia, this book illuminates the local idioms on dementia and aging, the personal experience of care-giving, the functioning of stigma in daily life, and the social and cultural barriers in accessing support.

List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Notes on Transliteration

Introduction

Chapter 1.Methods and Character Building
Chapter 2.The Diagnostic Process
Chapter 3.Therapeutics and Health Seeking
Chapter 4.The Economies of Care
Chapter 5.Alzheimers and the Indian Appetite
Chapter 6.Stigma and Loneliness in Care
Chapter 7.The Journey to Silence

Conclusion:This is the Time for Romance

Glossary
References
Index

Bianca Brijnathis a NHMRC Early Career Fellow in the Department of General Practice, Monash University, Australia. She is a researcher in medical anthropology, public health and primary health care. Her areas of interest include cross-cultural meanings of mental health and care and her field sites include India and Australia.?

Unforgottenis a beautiful ethnography of how families in India are caring for relatives with dementia& an unforgettable contribution lÃ#