How to Interact With Dementia Patients

Senior dementia patient conforted by her daughter

How you should talk with Dementia patients.

(Mirror Daily, United States) – As dementia and Alzheimer’s are a growing concern throughout the United States, it is important to know how to talk with people suffering from a brain disease to make sure that you do not upset them in any way.

Alzheimer’s is a brain condition that progresses to dementia in its advanced stages and it is a disease that cannot be cured or treated. The best way to deal with Alzheimer’s is to have a healthy lifestyle that will help you maintain your brain active and your whole body healthy.

Scientists thought of a few tips that everyone should know in case they interacted with an Alzheimer’s or dementia patient.

As such a disease implies the fact that the patients do not remember a lot of things, you should always avoid debating with them. By contradicting that person, you will only cause more stress, and you will make the situation worse.

Also, you should accept their reality. Patients with dementia have a different view of the present and the past, so they most likely do not remember who died and who still lives. In other words, they might ask you, „Where can I see my father?” but you know that the father is dead, so you wouldn’t answer, „Your father has passed away.”

Instead, you should find a way to avoid the truth with answers such as, „Let’s go next week” and change the subject.

Another important advice would be to avoid giving instruction. A better approach might be to make the person feel useful, so ask them to help. For example, „Can you help me wash the dishes?” Everyone want to know that someone needs them.

Always introduce yourself when you enter the room, despite the fact that the patient might be a close relative. Otherwise, these persons might have a shock when someone suddenly enters their room.

It is worth mentioning that you must not quiz the patient by asking questions such as „Do you remember me?”, or „Do you remember what you had for lunch?” because they can upset the person very much. Struggling to remember is a stressful process that might have other consequences on the health of dementia patients.

Instead, you should have a calm voice, call the person by the name, make eye contact, do not interrupt them when they talk, and offer gentle reminders such as showing some pictures saying „Look who is here: It’s your granddaughter Carla.”

Make sure that patients with dementia always focus on the conversation by turning off distractions which might upset them such as the TV or radio.

Image Source:Health News And Views

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Tara Hamilton

Tara has graduated from the University of Oregon, with bachelors degree in Spanish Literature in 2010. She lived in Miami for one year and travelled extensively before settling down in El Paso.