Affiliations: [a] Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| [b]
Center for Mental Health in Old Age, Landeskrankenhaus (AöR), Mainz, Germany
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Alexandra Wuttke-Linnemann, University Medical Center Mainz, Untere Zahlbacher Str. 8, 55131 Mainz, Germany. Tel.: +49 6131 17 2488; E-mail: alexandra.wuttke-linnemann@unimedizin-mainz.de.
Abstract: Patients with dementia (PWD) and their caregivers experience long-term stress, leading to accelerated disease progression and to stress-related morbidity. Previous research focused on intrapersonal biopsychological stress responses. Quite recently, dyadic interrelations between caregivers and PWD and their effects on stress and caregiver burden have received more attention, giving rise to dyadic intervention studies. However, while it is of importance to consider both the patient and the caregiver from a dyadic point of view, evaluation of these dyadic interventions considering underlying mechanisms is still lacking. We therefore extend the current literature on dyadic processes between PWD and caregivers by transferring the knowledge about underlying stress-modulating dyadic processes in healthy couples to the dementia patient-caregiver constellation. By targeting dyadic stress co-regulation between PWD and caregivers, we expect significant therapeutic effectiveness. The aims of this article are two-fold: 1) We aim to provide a rationale for incremental benefits of considering dyadic processes among caregivers and PWD by means of elucidating underlying mechanisms and 2) we aim to emphasize the need to evaluate these underlying mechanisms by means of objective physiological stress markers in both PWD and caregivers. Knowledge on these underlying mechanisms will ultimately help developing dyadic interventions tailored to the needs of both PWD and their caregivers.
