Fortunately, life expectancy is increasing more and more. Perhaps the most negative part of this is the development of diseases such as Alzheimer's dementia, indisputably associated with age.
The population affected by dementia is expected to continue to grow in the coming years, with Alzheimer's being the most common dementia. Therefore, it could be possible to have a person with Alzheimer's around. Would you know how to communicate with a person with Alzheimer's? Could you contribute to their good psychological state? Keep reading this Psychology-Online article in which we offer you 15 tips for treating someone with Alzheimer's.
Index
- What is dementia?
- What is Alzheimer's dementia?
- First of all, keep calm
- Maintain stable environments
- Introduce yourself and explain who you are
- Explain before acting
- Don't treat him like a child
- Talk to him at his height
- Give short and clear messages
- Help your speech with non-verbal language
- Don't finish his sentences, give him time
- Avoid talking about him or her with other people in their presence
- Let him perform simple tasks
- Do not scold or punish their behavior, reconduct it
- Reward their successes
- Be patient
- Schedule activities that you can carry out and that you like
What is dementia?
Shortly after reaching adulthood, our brain begins to lose neurons. Thus, the brain mass of a 90-year-old will be much smaller than that of a 21-year-old. This is why senile dementia can arise in very advanced ages, a non-pathological process caused by age (our brain has aged).
The dementia it's a pathological process in which the loss of brain tissue occurs in an accelerated way. Depending on the pattern of deterioration and the course of the disease, we can classify the different types of dementia. The most frequent are the following dementias:
- Alzheimer's Dementia
- Frontotemporal dementia
- Vascular dementia
- Lewy Body Dementia
What is Alzheimer's dementia?
The Alzheimer's dementia is a neurodegenerative disease that causes deterioration of cognitive functions, especially the memory, from loss of brain tissue.
Unfortunately, there is no treatment that cures Alzheimer's, understanding this cure as the one that slow the progression of the disease and / or reverse the degenerative process and loss of function cognitive.
The person with Alzheimer's will lose autonomy as the disease progresses, so they will require more care and more attention. It is important to bear in mind that the disease follows a pattern of progressive deterioration, that is, the way in which we will communicate, we will interact and take care of a person in the initial phase it will have nothing to do with the needs of a person who is in more phases severe.
However, below we provide you 15 tips for treating someone with Alzheimer's. Some of them may be applied throughout the disease process.
First of all, keep calm.
Be as calm and quiet as possible. This is one of the best tips on how to treat someone with Alzheimer's, since the Caregiver's emotional state influences the person with Alzheimer's and, therefore, the calmer and calmer we are, the more security we will convey to you.
Maintain stable environments.
Another important guideline for dealing with people with Alzheimer's is to keep the environment as stable as possible. Do not constantly change the decoration of your room or the rooms where you live. This will give you peace of mind and confidence.
Introduce yourself and explain who you are.
This would not be necessary in the early stages but it is necessary as the disease progresses, since they will begin to not recognize us. What to do when someone with Alzheimer's does not recognize you? Introduce yourself briefly For example: "Hi Mom, I'm Juan, your son" or "Hi Maria, I'm Esther, I work at this residence and I'm here to help you."
Explain before acting.
Explain what is going to happen before starting a new task. For example “It is time to go to sleep. I'm going to help you put your pajamas on ”or“ Let's wash our hands and then we'll eat ”.
Don't treat him like a child.
It is a very common mistake to infantilize older people and, even more so, when they have a disease. How should someone with Alzheimer's be treated? We are talking to an adult person and we must treat him as such, without prejudice to treating him with the greatest possible affection.
Talk to him at his height.
How to talk to people with Alzheimer's? One of the most important communication guidelines for people with Alzheimer's is to speak up. If she's sitting, sit next to her or crouch down to promote communication.
Give short, clear messages.
Another of the communication techniques with people with Alzheimer's is to be brief and clear. Use short and simple phrases, that convey your message as clearly as possible to facilitate understanding.
Help your speech with non-verbal language.
Another communication guide for people with Alzheimer's is to take into account non-verbal language: posture, volume, tone, prosody, facial expression... Don't use a flat tone of voice. Make sure that both your tone of voice and your gestures are consistent with what you are saying.
Don't finish his sentences, give him time.
Patience is another key when we talk about how to live with a person with Alzheimer's. Sometimes they may not find the word they want to say. Help him by asking for the features of what they want to tell us. For example, "This morning I placed... that... it does not come out now ..." We can ask: What color was what you placed? Was it big or small?
Avoid talking about him or her with other people in her presence.
It is a very common mistake to think that they "don't know." If you wonder how to treat someone with Alzheimer's disease, it is important that you bear in mind that the respect for his person and their dignity should always guide your actions. So the person should not be discussed with others in front of him or her.
Let him perform simple tasks.
In early stages, people with Alzheimer's are aware of their deficits, which can lead to low moods and affect your self-esteem. This is why it is important to allow them to perform simple tasks that they are capable of, such as sorting black and white socks.
Do not scold or punish their behavior, reconduct it.
They are likely to make mistakes when carrying out tasks, even simple ones. Taking the example from the previous section, if you have put a white sock in the pile of black ones, take it, show him and explain that that sock must go in the other pile.
Reward their successes.
Reinforce what they do correctly it helps them cushion the emotional impact of their illness. You can use phrases like: Very well done! It was perfect! o Good job!
Be patient.
It is possible that in the conversation the person will repeat the same question several times. Do not make a mistake, just answer again. It is also possible that the person takes a long time to answer. Do not rush and give him the necessary time.
Schedule activities that you can do and that you like.
You can carry out together tasks that they have always liked and that their deterioration allows to carry out: walking, playing dominoes (in the initial stages), cooking together, playing bingo, etc. That will reassure and stimulate to the person with Alzheimer's.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to How to treat a person with Alzheimer's, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.
Bibliography
- American Psychiatric Association (2014). DSM-5. Reference guide to the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5-Breviary. Madrid : Editorial Médica Panamericana.
- Junqué, C. and Jurado, M.A. (2009) Aging, dementias and other degenerative processes. In Junqué, C. and Barroso, J. Neuropsychology Manual. Madrid: Synthesis.
- Jurado, M.A., Mataró, M. and Pueyo, R. (2013). Alzheimer disease. In Jurado, M.A., Mataró, M. and Pueyo, R. (2013) Neuropsychology of diseases.
