title: 'Journeys' in the life-writing of adult-child dementia caregivers.
abstract: This article explores how Alzheimer's disease caregivers struggle under the impact of a parent's memory loss on their own personality. In particular, it analyses how caregivers perceive and, thus, present their experiences of the ever intensifying caregiving activity in terms of a 'journey'. In doing so, this work takes into account both the patient's continuing bodily as well as cognitive decline and its intricately linked influence on the caregiver's physical and emotional stability. Equally, this study investigates how caregivers portray memory loss, and how their portrayal fits into our conceptualisation of illness narratives and the culture of autobiographical writing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Biocentre N260, Goethe University Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue Str. 9, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. martina.zimmermann@em.uni-frankfurt.de
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D032721:Adult Children / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D001240:Aspirations, Psychological; D001325:Autobiographies as Topic; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004644:Emotions; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007207:Individuation; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration; D010551:Personality; D012649:Self Concept; D012803:Sick Role; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology