Alzheimer's Study: Grief Is Heaviest Burden For Caregivers

The hardest part of caring for loved ones with Alzheimer's type disorders is not the everyday practical challenge, but rather the emotional impact of losing the patients' support and companionship as the disease robs them of their faculties, according to new research at the University of Indianapolis.

"You are losing and grieving while you're providing the care, because Charlie isn't Charlie anymore," says Associate Professor Jacquelyn Frank of UIndy's Center for Aging & Community. She says the results point toward new avenues of service that could be provided by community-based support agencies.

Frank gathered responses from more than 400 dementia caregivers around Indiana, most of them spouses and adult children of Alzheimer's patients. She is continuing to analyze data from the survey's 100-plus items, but she was struck immediately by the responses to this open-ended question: "What would you say is the biggest barrier you have faced as a caregiver?"