Why Buy This Book?

The proposal for my book, tentatively titled Lucid on Demand: Recognizing Diogenes Syndrome continues to evolve, now that I've begun collecting stories from others. Those stories (and my own, of course) form the backbone of the book, interwoven with the clinical information and interviews with various people involved with the care of Diogenes sufferers -- doctors, caregivers, and crisis workers. The book will focus on ways to recognize the syndrome so that help and/or intervention can happen before the situation becomes critical. The book will also tackle the central conundrum of Diogenes -- how to help someone who refuses help, when self-neglect becomes life-threatening and social services are powerless to step in. It's clear that Diogenes Syndrome is not at all rare, and so many lives are touched by it.