We live in a culture that strongly associates grief with death. So if no one has died, there is no reason to grieve. But is that fact or fiction? There are many situational losses that people experience and grieve that are not death-related. In fact, it is widely acknowledged in the dementia literature that caregivers grieve the loss of a family member not to death, but rather to illness. There is even a scale called The Meuser Marwit Caregiver Grief Inventory to assess the g

Caregiver well-being is influenced by more than just the caregiver’s health. In dementia care or in attending to anyone with a chronic illness, the caregivers well-being is also influenced by the care demands. It is important to note that the demands and burden may be self-imposed by the way the caregiver interacts with the care recipient. One of the demands that takes a toll on family members of individuals with chronic cognitive and mental health conditions is witnessing th

Many years ago, there was an acclaimed fantasy movie viewed by families everywhere. “The Neverending Story”. The movie was not about grief but it would certainly be a fitting title for documenting the grief reaction to a significant situational loss. Why ‘neverending’, you may ask, when people are striving to get over their grief, to move on, to obtain closure after a loss? Why ‘neverending’, when we live in a culture that has a low tolerance and discomfort with an overly