Patients with dementia can suffer from various diseases: Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Binswanger’s disease. They all have dementia, ie the gradual loss or weakening of mental abilities.
Diseases that cause dementia are difficult to tolerate for both patients and their families. Changes in memory and mental abilities, as well as some behavioral disorders, can make the situation desperate.
Depression in patients with dementia
Depression is a condition that usually affects patients with dementia. The fact that they do not understand what is happening to them, the loss of memory that disorients them, and the tactlessness of the people around them, lead to frustration and melancholy.
Many families do not know what to do with this disease. Here’s why they make some of the mistakes we’ll list below:
- They treat patients like children: they talk to them as if they are not around and they do not hear anything. In addition, they do not talk about adult topics.
- They shout and scold them: if you shout at people with dementia because they are doing something without even knowing why they will feel guilty and will not be able to understand what is happening.
- They ignore them: if you don’t talk to them like adults, yell at them and ignore what they say, they will feel lonely. This loneliness can lead to depression.
Patients with dementia should feel supported and committed. The family must make an effort to try to put themselves in the place of the sick patient and understand that the situation is difficult for everyone.
They need to feel independent
The patient’s condition does not mean that he needs others to do everything. There are many things they can do on their own, but the family has to help them.
For example, if they have problems with the shirt button, try to buy them clothes without buttons. If they can’t tie the laces, buy them shoes without them.
If a person begins to experience severe memory loss, additional measures can be taken. For example, tell them where the bathroom is, without notifying them directly, by sticking a sign on the bathroom door that says “bathroom”.
A person with dementia may experience disorientation and embarrassment due to memory loss and a sudden inability to do something simple. So it will help a person feel much better and more able to do something.
They have to go walk
Often, the family of dementia patients does not want them to leave the house for fear that they may get lost. However, the decision to keep them at home around the clock will lead to depression.
If no one can take care of a sick person, you can hire someone to do so. People with dementia can easily get lost and, if they stay at home alone, they can leave for any reason and not know how to return.
However, patients must spend time with their families. Going for a walk, walking in the park or sunbathing in the garden, they will really enjoy it.
The patient should feel that the family supports them. This will help prevent isolation and loneliness.
Another very good option is to join a group that helps patients with this problem slow down memory loss and improve behavioral disorders.
There are also some specialized centers where dementia patients can communicate with each other. From time to time they need to be taken to such centers so that they feel that they are not alone, that they spend time with people who understand their problems and frustrations, and make new friends.
The life of a patient with dementia is not easy. They have many limitations that they cannot control, much less understand, so it is extremely important to support them and do everything possible to help.
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