This category contains blog posts about how to best work with undesirable moods that can come up in people who have dementia.
We can affect the moods of those with dementia When we are with people who have dementia or Alzheimer’s, we should take responsibility for their moods. Actually, whether we realize it or not, we are already creating their moods because changing moods requires rational thought and memory. People with dementia are missing both, so whatever … Read more
How to handle a combative dementia patient** [This article, “Dementia and Aggressiveness,” is the last in a series of three articles about mean dementia. See parts 1 and 2, “Mean Dementia—Dementia and Being Mean to Family,” and the “Dementia Anger Stage.”] “You stop that or I’ll hit you!” If you are someone who works with … Read more
There are more people searching for information on the dementia ‘anger stage’—and how to deal with dementia patients who are angry—than for any other answers about dementia care. This should tell us something. (This article is Part 2 of our series on anger; see Part 1: Mean Dementia—Dementia and Being Mean to Family; see Part 3: … Read more
How to deal with a mean dementia ‘patient’* Why is my mom so angry? Why does my husband blow up when I try to explain something?” Why does it feel like having dementia and being mean to family often go hand in hand? There is an answer—a way to avoid the anger that so often … Read more
I can only imagine how overwhelmed many of you are with all that is happening right now. Taking care of a loved one with dementia is difficult enough without having to worry about how to keep them safe, possibly on your own without the extra help that you may have had before this crisis began. These … Read more
Music reaches all of us emotionally. It can bring tears to our eyes, give us goosebumps, grate on our ears, calm us, or send us out of the room. People with dementia respond to music just as surely as people with healthy brains. We don’t need rational thought to respond to music. But rational thought … Read more