When caring for someone with dementia, family caregivers often wonder “how do you tell them?”. The answer is, you don’t.
Read our 5 suggestions for talking with your loved one about their illness and tips on how to care for someone who doesn’t know they have dementia.
- You don’t have to convince them they have dementia Arguments and evidence are not going to help explain or convince someone that they have dementia. In order to help them live a life of safety, it is more effective to discreetly make changes. As a whole, keep your comments subtle and positive when expressing your concerns and stay calm.
- Consult their doctors and care team The team should understand that your older adult is unaware of their dementia, so trying to convince them logically won’t work. Give your older adult the support they need to accomplish their daily tasks without waiting for them to ask for help or forcibly admitting a problem.
- Ensure their safety in a discreet manner There are many things you can do to improve the quality of life of your loved one without mentioning dementia as the reason, like finding creative ways to prevent them from driving, working together to prevent financial difficulties, making the kitchen safer, or making the whole house safer. As an example, you might describe how you dislike eating alone or you’d like to spend more time together so you’d like to eat dinner with them.
- Select your battles and avoid correcting them As much as possible, try to resolve problems without them knowing, pick your battles, and let the non-serious things go – stress only exacerbates challenging dementia symptoms.
- Positively and subtly present solutions As a general rule, when someone doesn’t know they have dementia, it is better to offer solutions in a positive way rather than talk about it. For example, you might say, “It’s a beautiful day outside. I’d like to go for a walk with you so that we can both enjoy the fresh air.”
You can learn more about dementia here: https://www.alz.org/
