Welcome to the March newsletter!
The Key to Understanding the Challenging Behaviors of Dementia
Caregivers to parents and senior loved ones with dementia already know that it can be difficult to care for a loved one as the disease progresses. Dementia can make a person exhibit challenging behaviors and psychological symptoms that are upsetting for everyone involved.The Key to Understanding the Challenging Behaviors of Dementia
Although we can’t prevent these behaviors or changes, there are ways to better understand and deal with them. Read our tips for handling the challenging behaviors associated with dementia.
6 Ways to Help Someone Who Doesn’t Know They’re Ill: Anosognosia in Dementia
Family caregivers often ask “how do you tell someone they have dementia”? And in some cases, the answer may be that you simply can’t.
Damage in the brain can cause people with Alzheimer’s, dementia, stroke, brain tumors, and other cognitive impairments to believe that there’s nothing wrong with them.
When that happens, it’s called anosognosia (pronounced ah-no-sog-NOH-zee-uh). The word literally means “to not know a disease” and it’s much more than being in denial.
In Caregiving, Anxiety Can Be Contagious
We all live with a certain amount of worry, much of which is caused by fear of the unknown. Since health issues can change without warning, caregivers and the people they care for often live with elevated levels of anxiety. This can be detrimental, not only to the person who is suffering from these feelings of apprehension and concern, but it also affects those around them.
For example, if a caregiver is anxious due to care decisions or work-related stress, they likely bring that anxiety home in some form and unintentionally transfer some of it to the person they are caring for.