New 2009 Edition ~ $21.95

ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

ANNOUNCING OUR NEW 2009 EDITION

An Alzheimer’s Surprise Party investigates the widely held belief that dementia is only a “mindless pathology”. Instead, the authors discover an essential, soulful, spiritual process that can be facilitated right from Alzheimer’s dementia onset.

This book provides pioneering and innovative research on the Alzheimer’s dementia pandemic, and serves as an intimate, intense, compelling beacon, shining light on the disease’s potential for deeper meaning and spiritual healing.

“I strongly recommend this as an original method of understanding and dealing with people in Alzheimer’s and other dementias.”

DR. ARNOLD MINDELL, PhD, Jungian Training Analyst, founder of Process Oriented Psychology, Process Work

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“Speaking as a professional psychologist, teacher, and trainer, I highly recommend An Alzheimer’s Surprise Party as an exceptional training tool not only for professionals, but also for family members, friends and caregivers.

It is exceptional because Tom and Stan have made it interactive. They do not simply present abstract psychological concepts, but develop detailed reality based personal experiences enhanced with clear concise observations, structure, and learning.

Their style of presentation alternates back and forth between human experience and observation, all within a phased structure that sharpens the reader’s experiences even further. This technique helped me differentiate my own observations, go deeper into my own inner experiences, deeper into my learning, and added depth to my teaching.

And this style even makes it a great resource for the nonprofessional lay person who may shy away from psychology or get turned off by psychological concepts.

As a training tool this book is both timely and essential and could help transform the way people interpret and respond to patients with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.”

DR. SALOME SCHWARZ, PhD
Faculty Member and Trainer, Process Work Institute of Portland, Oregon

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DR. ROSEMARY SHINKWIN, MD, MRCPsych
Consultant Psychiatrist, Mercy University Hospital, Cork, Ireland

• Alzheimer’s
• dementia
• delirium
• senile
• senility
• senile dementia
• vascular dementia
• confusion
• forgetfulness
• stroke
• memory loss
• coma
• communication
• Arnold Mindell
• process work
• process oriented psychology
• awareness
• sentient awareness
• sentient care
• prevention

For patients and care facility residents this means the opportunity of knowing and experiencing themselves on their own terms and in their new state of consciousness; and with less physical and pharmacological restraints.

For families, friends, and caregivers this means reduced feelings of hopelessness and burnout; less fear, added peace of mind, and reduced stress; and the opportunity of being in closer relationship with the individual.

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Read more about our research and work with states of altered consciousness

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Read the Preface to An Alzheimer’s Surprise Party: Unveiling the Mystery, Inner Experience, and Gifts of Dementia
by DR. ROSEMARY SHINKWIN, MD, MRCPsych
Consultant Psychiatrist, Mercy University Hospital, Cork, Ireland

“Insight on how to open our minds and hearts to the person who is suffering from the disease is invaluable.”

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“I bought one copy of your book and am so impressed that I am now buying ten copies so that I may have copies available to family members of persons with dementia, and am also going to give copies to the geriatric psych unit, of which I am the medical director, and to the two long term care facilities, of which I am the medical director. Thank you for writing such an uplifting and positive account of relating with individuals with dementia!”

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“My future visits (to my husband) will be more meaningful because of your explanations.”

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“I was struck with the thrill of the Flow, which is always there, waiting for us to pay attention. ~ Your prose flows naturally in a friendly, unpretentious style. ~ Yours is a lovely book of great warmth and I will be returning to it.”

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“The urgency and poignancy and intimate connection revealed between the two of you caught me by surprise. ~ Your writing is so alive I felt like it was happening in the moment. ~ Thanks for showing how to honor our elders, speak to those in altered states and follow the end of life/separation process.”

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“My father died of Alzheimer’s and reading your book was very comforting.”

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“The presentation of your self-reflection during your time with Stan’s dad, and while reviewing the video is very insightful and honest. Stan’s self-disclosure about his own edges, hesitations and moving closer and farther from his father are rare in their frankness and simplicity.”

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“Absolutely fascinating! I was captured by it… very emotional content . . . it is a common mistake to forget the humanity of these situations . . . that’s what you’re retaining the humanity of it.”

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“I have always been afraid I would get Alzheimer’s … like the scary aunt we visited when I was a child. Reading your book was the first time in my life I haven’t been afraid of it . . . and if I get it, I want Thyra to take care of me.”

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“I think the message you are putting out is that Alzheimer’s patients are all there . . . Stanley’s the man here.”

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“Alzheimers is going to teach us a lot!”

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“We the readers can empathize with each of you . . . the anguish and ecstacy you experience trying to stay in relationship to the man who is in and out of remote states”

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“I laughed and cried through the whole book.”

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“The more I think about it the more I realize that Stanley really knew how to live.”

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“Speaking as a professional psychologist, teacher, and trainer, I highly recommend An Alzheimer’s Surprise Party as an exceptional training tool not only for professionals, but also for family members, friends and caregivers.

It is exceptional because Tom and Stan have made it interactive. They do not simply present abstract psychological concepts, but develop detailed reality based personal experiences enhanced with clear concise observations, structure, and learning.

Their style of presentation alternates back and forth between human experience and observation, all within a phased structure that sharpens the reader’s experiences even further. This technique helped me differentiate my own observations, go deeper into my own inner experiences, deeper into my learning, and added depth to my teaching.

And this style even makes it a great resource for the nonprofessional lay person who may shy away from psychology or get turned off by psychological concepts.

As a training tool this book is both timely and essential and could help transform the way people interpret and respond to patients with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.”

DR. SALOME SCHWARZ, PhD
Faculty Member and Trainer, Process Work Institute of Portland, Oregon

AZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION RECOMMENDED RESCOURCE

Dementia is a loss of mental function in two or more areas such as language, memory, visual and spatial abilities, or judgment severe enough to interfere with daily life. Dementia itself is not a disease, but a broader set of symptoms that accompanies certain diseases or physical conditions.

Well known diseases that cause dementia include Alzheimer’s disease, multi infarct dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, Pick’s disease, AIDS, alcohol and drug abuse, and Lewy body dementia. Alzheimer’s accounts for approximately 60% of people with dementia, vascular dementia accounts for approximately 30%, and all the rest account for approximately 10%.

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Read the Preface to An Alzheimer’s Surprise Party: Unveiling the Mystery, Inner Experience, and Gifts of Dementia
by DR. ROSEMARY SHINKWIN, MD, MRCPsych
Consultant Psychiatrist, Mercy University Hospital, Cork, Ireland

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“PREVENTION” ~  Please refer to Chapter Nine ~ Summary of An Alzheimer’s Surprise Party: Unveiling the Mystery, Inner Experience, and Gifts of Dementia for our  prescription for helping with dementia “prevention.”

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• Alzheimer’s
• dementia
• delirium
• senile
• confusion
• forgetfulness
• stroke
• memory loss
• coma
• communication
• Arnold Mindell
• process work
• process oriented psychology
• awareness
• sentient awareness
• sentient care
• prevention

Please value feeling skills or meta-skills (feeling attitudes that you bring with your deeply centered presence) as much as skills. (see Amy Mindell’s Coma: A Healing Journey, A Guide for Family Friends and Helpers, and Arnold Mindell’s Coma, Key to Awakening for more).

There are no firm procedures and may never be any fixed rules in working with people. Everything is a process; it depends upon the moment, people, belief systems, and feedback processes.

I. About Medications

At the appropriate time, when someone is nearing death, ask them if they prefer a lucid state (minimal drugs) in which they can track their experiences or a less lucid state (more drugs). Left to themselves, the majority of people do not seem to use their lucidity in comatose or near coma-like states. This may be due in part to the lack of education about death and dying and the culture someone is living in. Giving more drugs to make the client feel “better” is a good idea.

Though the person may prefer minimal drugs, so they can access the creativity trying to happen which may enrich and facilitate the whole end of life process. Medications and awareness can work together. Drug levels may vary depending on patient’s wants and needs from day to day or within the same day.

II. Effects of Lucidity

Everyone should know that, as a general rule, more lucidity will help complete people’s processes, and be more restful and best for patients, family, and care providers.

For a description of some types of “processes” refer to Dr. Rosemary Shinkwin’s Preface to An Alzheimer’s Surprise Party.

III. Precision

For those “clients” choosing the lucid path, be absolutely precise as a helper and notice little tiny things and feed them back by repeating them verbally, by touch, or movement.

IV. Wait and Notice

What you don’t know, don’t fill in with your everyday mind; wait for answers to happen. Only after positive feedback to what you have done, go on with what you are doing. Especially in coma work and in general, if the client asks you to play a part in their process, then you can or must use your own experiences as part of the overall process. You are needed as you are! Your presence and your reactions are part of the overall dreaming field of your client and in learning how to make your reactions useful you will be guide by feedback from your client.

V. Agitation Just Before Death

To the surprise and terror of many helpers, clients near death seem to get agitated and try to fly or walk or even run from their bed. Helpful methods to work with this are to tell them you are going to fly or walk for them, and to ask them to “choreograph” you, if possible. Or, you can move their body or legs for them and ask them to imagine where they are going and what they are doing. Some folks tell you they are flying into the air, or reaching for the sun etc. (Actually helping someone out of bed is a very radical procedure and needs great care and expertise.)

VI. Respecting Death and Dying Is Very Important

Perhaps even more important however is respecting the process that is not necessarily time or space bound, here or there. Connecting with “the other side”, or past or future times may be important.

VII. About Attachment

If you are normal and attached and can’t let go, then act that out, put on a little theater, show it to the other, and then you might be able to show letting go. Many feelings we have mirror submerged feelings the client has and is shy about showing.

VIII. What to do Next?

Remember, you are the other. If your friend or client asked you to be there at the end, and you don’t know what to do, ask yourself what you would want in a given moment.

IX. Special Situation: Young Children

When dealing with very young children, especially under the age of two, we have had good responses by playing very fast and/or very slow music and simultaneously, gently tapping on their feet in rhythm with the music. Depending upon the situation, half an hour, twice a day could be helpful.

Edited by ANN JACOB, STAN TOMANDL, and TOM RICHARDS from DRS. ARNOLD & AMY MINDELL, www.aamindel.net, 2006 .

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Example:  Recovery from Stroke and Metabolic coma

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Example:  Coma Work ~ One Family’s Experience with Structural Coma

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Coma Work and Paliative Care ~ Communication Skills Manual

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Contact Tom Richards at 847-486-8349 in Chicago, Illinois, USA

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Contact Ann Jacob and Stan Tomandl at 250-592-4928 in Victoria, BC, Canada

The body speaks symbolically through its symptoms, in its own unique “language”. It does this to get our attention. We can study and learn its languages and communication styles and patterns. During sentient care work we seek portals of entry into the body’s process and messages. Such portals of entry may be body experiences in the moment; the body’s symbolic language; the initial moment of injury and secondary figure(s); or dreams including earliest childhood memories or recurring dreams. All portals lead to the same underlying process at work in the moment. The object is to look for a portal that will open, and explore what’s behind it.

There are two types of symptoms: acute and chronic. In our experience this work may sometimes relieve acute symptoms spontaneously, and may sometimes help relieve and prevent recurrence of chronic symptoms, although many chronic symptoms are life long message bearers requiring continuing efforts at translation.

Also in our experience, doing this work before, during, and immediately after surgery, or as soon as possible after an accident, often promotes healing, faster and less painful recovery, and prevents relapse or recurrence.

The work unfolds layers of experiential information and can go very deep, very fast. Once a message is received it also needs to be acted on. With chronic symptoms the body responds more slowly, having to unwind unfinished business, family history and cultural issues.

Sentient Care^TM is not a substitute for medical care or other therapies. This work supports and encourages a multidimensional approach that includes most healthcare methods. Surgery, for example, is one part of the healing process, an important step, and requires pre and post operative processing to address the patient’s total dis-ease. We encourage a multidimensional approach which embraces medical and surgical interventions and attends to the underlying dis-ease.

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One example of Sentient Care for rehabilitation after stroke

NEW 2009 EDITION ~ $21.95

In this groundbreaking work Tom Richards and Stan Tomandl offer a new and exciting shift in the therapeutic mind set for family, friends, and professionals working with people in Alzheimer’s and other dementia states.

They propose that people with Alzheimer’s dementia are not merely spiraling downward into “mindless pathology”, but are human beings in states of altered consciousness, parallel realities, that may be important and meaningful experiences for them, their families, and for society.

The authors liken the Alzheimer’s dementia patient to a hero or heroine on a mythic journey venturing into the unknown, encountering extraordinary and sometimes divine experiences. They show by means of one such detailed case history that this journey can reveal processes involving: completion of “unfinished business” such as resolving individual and family issues; “harvesting” such as recalling and savoring life experiences; “imparting blessings” by openly accepting loved ones; creating “sacred space” via a secure feeling with a sense of something larger than ourselves; “meaning” by exploring formative experiences and essential beliefs; and “spiritual connections” like immersing in the beauty of eternity.

Along with verbatim bedside reports, comprehensive summaries, theoretical discussions, practical exercises, plus an extensive index and bibliography; Stan and Tom demonstrate techniques for communicating with individuals in extreme and altered states of consciousness, including advanced Alzheimer’s dementia, delirium, and coma. These techniques are based on the sentient communication and facilitation skills of Process Work, learned from its innovators Drs. Amy and Arnold Mindell.

In showing that an individual, even in an advanced Alzheimer’s dementia state, is able to communicate with others, the authors demonstrate that such patients can often make conscious rational decisions, thus adding a significant new dimension to ethical and legal debates around altered consciousness and end of life conditions.

This is a truly informative book and a must for patients and families affected by Alzheimer’s dementia, and the professionals working with them.

DR. ROSEMARY SHINKWIN, MD, MRCPsych
Consultant Psychiatrist, Mercy University Hospital, Cork, Ireland

AZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION RECOMMENDED RESCOURCE

One year later his residual symptoms include short term memory loss, left visual field deficit, and word confusion.

After months of occupational and speech rehabilitation therapy with little progress, his residual symptoms persist, and he is declared unfit to ever fill his former position, or drive a car.

Unwilling to accept this outcome, through continued employer and family commitment plus Sentient Care™, he is able to return to work in his expert scientific capacity, and is able to resume driving within the year.

An in depth description of this work will be available in our forthcoming book, The Healing Power of Awareness: How to Heal Faster and Less Painfully Using Sentient Awareness by Tom Richards

Sentient Care™