A Clinician's Guide to Non-Pharmacological Dementia Therapies

Book excerpt: The book outlines a range of non-pharmacological therapies clinicians can adopt in their daily practice and sets out information and advice on each therapy and how to implement them in practice, illustrated with case studies and practical examples and drawing on the author's own clinical work. Many different therapies are discussed including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and farm and ranch therapy. Each has been chosen for its own particular benefits, including early stage dementia and rarer forms, while others can be applied more generally. Tying each therapy together are six key clinical approaches and models of intervention. The core of this is the Nightingale Psycho-Social Model of Support for Someone Living with Dementia. This person-centred approach focuses on the maintenance of meaningful occupation, platonic and intimate relationships, community involvement and maintaining life within normal patterns of behaviour. The new go-to book for clinicians, it is an invaluable tool for anyone looking for a wide variety of dementia therapies.