My Mum has Alzheimers and has lost quite a bit of her cognitive ability (ST memory, ability to follow a conversation, has some delusions, lost inhibitions). What i would really value advice on is how to discourage her making nasty hurtful comments to family members. She directs these mainly at my sister, who is really her main carer, but also at my children and my nieces and nephews. She will say that my sister is acquisitive/ loud/ bossy/ domineering etc, and calls my niece and daughter fat (they are not but both are self-conscious), calls my nephew a horrible little boy etc etc. I have stopped taking my daughter with me to visit her as a result and i think it has destroyed my childrens' and my nieces and nephews relationship with her.
I feel sure that this is due to her Alzheimers as my Mum was a kind person; perhaps it is a desire to assert control or maybe even jealousy of my and my sisters' attention to our kids. I worry for my sister in particular as the abuse is frequent. Is there anything anyone would suggest as a way to discourage this kind of behaviour? We can always distract her away from it/ get her to talk about something else, but by then of course the damage has been done
I feel sure that this is due to her Alzheimers as my Mum was a kind person; perhaps it is a desire to assert control or maybe even jealousy of my and my sisters' attention to our kids. I worry for my sister in particular as the abuse is frequent. Is there anything anyone would suggest as a way to discourage this kind of behaviour? We can always distract her away from it/ get her to talk about something else, but by then of course the damage has been done