The Caregiver's Tale: Loss and Renewal in Memoirs of Family Life

by Ann Burack-Weiss

Overview

Ann Burack-Weiss explores a rich variety of published memoirs by authors who cared for ill or disabled family members. Contrary to the common belief that caregiving is nothing more than a stressful situation to be endured, memoirs describe a life transforming experience-self-discovery, a reordering of one's priorities, and a changed view of the world. The Caregiver's Tale offers insight and comfort to individuals caring for a loved one and is a valuable resource for all health care professionals.

Identifying common themes, Burack-Weiss describes how the illness career and social meaning of cancer, dementia, HIV/AIDS, mental illness, and chemical dependence affect the caregiving experience. She applies the same method to an examination of family roles: parents caring for ailing children, couples and siblings caring for one another, and adult children caring for aging parents.

Jamaica Kincaid, Sue Miller, Paul Monette, Kenzaburo Oë, and Philip Roth are among the many authors who share their caregiving stories. Burack-Weiss provides an annotated bibliography of the more than one hundred memoirs and an accompanying chart to help readers locate those of greatest interest to them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231121590
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	03/14/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ann Burack-Weiss, a licensed clinical social worker, has taught two generations of students at the Columbia University School of Social Work. She is the coauthor of Gerontological Social Work Supervision and Social Work Practice with the Frail Elderly and Their Families: The Auxiliary Function Model.
Ann Burack-Weiss, DSW is Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University's School of Social Work. She also maintains a private practice and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times. She has co-authored three books: First Encounters between Elders and Agencies, Gerontological Social Work Supervision, and Social Work Practice with the Frail Elderly and Their Families.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
"Crystallized Love"
Part 1. Care Situations
1. Introduction: "The Flavor of the Name"
2. Cancer: "Cancer's Gift"
3. Dementia: "Everything Crumbles"
4. HIV/AIDS: "Burden of a Secret"
5. Mental Illness/Chemical Dependence: "Companion Demons"
Part 2. Care Relationships
6. Introduction: "Spun in Love's Loom"
7. Child Care: "An Unimagined Life"
8. Sibling Care: "She Was My Parents' Child, and So Was I"
9. Couple Care: "This Terrible Traffic Regulation"
10. Parent Care: "The Consummate Act"
Part 3. The Memoirs
11. Introduction: "Jointly Human"
12. Memoirs in Brief: "Our Inward Journey"
13. Epilogue
Appendix 1: The Memoirs, by Care Relationship and Care Situation
Notes
Sources Cited
Index

What People are Saying About This

Mindy Thompson Fullilove

Our healthcare system has placed the burden of caring for the ill squarely on the shoulders of family members. In order to understand what this means for the caretakers and for our society, Ann Burack-Weiss has taken us into the heart of the caretaking experience. Using a treasure-trove of memoirs, she has developed an insightful and moving analysis that is complemented by crisp thumbnail sketches of her 100 sources. Caretakers, healthcare providers, and people concerned about illness will find this book presents a new and crucial angle on the life struggles of people who give care.

— Mindy Thompson Fullilove, professor of clinical psychiatry and public health, New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University

Rita Charon

In The Caregiver's Tale, Ann Burack-Weiss catalogues, analyzes, and honors the caring lives of family and friends of the ill. What an accomplishment to bring to our eyes and awareness the hidden suffering and profound rewards of those whose lives are transformed by the illnesses of others. This book is a germinal study in life-writing theory and narrative medicine that will speak with power to health care professionals and to all who live around illness and dying.

— Rita Charon, director, Program in Narrative Medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

Editorial Reviews

A unique and valuable contribution to the social work literature and offers a deeply human view of... of caregiving.

The New Social Worker Online - Michelle Estile

Readable and well researched... The Caregiver's Tale: Loss and Renewal in Memoirs of Family Life is a useful book.

Journal of the American Medical Association - Delese Wear

A unique and useful contribution to the knowledge of the family caregiver experience... A useful educational tool.

Journal of Marriage and Family - Nicole A. Graves

A unique and useful contribution to the knowledge of the family caregiver experience... A useful educational tool.

— Nicole A. Graves

Journal of Marriage and Family

Readable and well researched... The Caregiver's Tale: Loss and Renewal in Memoirs of Family Life is a useful book.

— Delese Wear, PhD

Journal of the American Medical Association