Dancing with Dementia: My Story of Living Positively with Dementia
By Christine Bryden. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2005 (200 pages).

This book is about a person getting and living with a diagnosis of dementia.   It tells how the stigma and shame of having a diagnosis of dementia can be surmounted and how a person can live positively being diagnosed with dementia.

Christine Bryden was a top civil servant and single mother of three children when she was diagnosed with dementia at the age of 46. Since then she has gone on to challenge almost every stereotype of people with dementia by campaigning for self-advocacy, writing articles and speaking at national conferences.

This book is a vivid account of the author's experiences living with dementia, exploring the effects of memory problems, loss of independence, difficulties in communication and the exhaustion of coping with simple tasks. She describes how, with the support of her husband, Paul, she continues to lead an active life nevertheless, and explains how professionals and caregivers can help.

Christine makes an outspoken attempt to change prevailing attitudes and misconceptions about the disease. Arguing for greater empowerment and respect for people with dementia as individuals, she also reflects on the importance of spirituality in her life and how it has helped her better understand who she is and who she is becoming.

This book is very well done and is even better than her first book, titled “Who will I Be When I Die”. The audience is people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and their caregivers. They will benefit by reading Christine’s experience.  People with dementia will feel that they are not alone with their problems and caregivers will be able to see how a person with dementia feels.

Review provided by: Lynn Jackson. Lynn is in the early stages of frontotemporal dementia. She is a founding member and current President of DASN International.