Caring for a partner with dementia takes a heavy toll. Try holding on to the moments of joy | Gaynor Parkin and Erika Clarry

A two-sided approach of acknowledging the negatives while searching for pockets of happiness may help

• The modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work
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I'm losing this wonderful man whom I've loved and lived with in harmony with for 60 years. Hardest of all, I cannot talk with him about it, when once we talked about everything and could make it right together. This time I'm alone.

Freya's* heartbreaking description of the haze that dementia was drawing between her husband and her lingered with me long after our conversations. A fiercely independent and capable woman in her 80s, she was relishing retirement years with her husband after successful professional lives and raising children together.

Dementia is a group of conditions that impact memory, thinking, and social skills. Symptoms include impeded routine functioning and reflect a drastic decline in mental capability. Early diagnosis may help slow the speed at which the condition progresses, but there is no cure for dementia. Treatment and medication may help reduce the intensity of symptoms, but their effect is usually minor.