New to group

[InSickness&Health]

Hi! I’m new to the group and I’d like to know how you explain dementia to a loved one who thinks there is nothing wrong with him.

 

[northumbrian_k]

Hi @cside929 and welcome to Dementia Support Forum our friendly and helpful community. From my experience - and others here will bear this out - you cannot explain dementia to a person who has it. A feature of dementia is that the person has no insight that they are doing anything different or that there is anything 'wrong'. It isn't a matter of denial but a sincerely held belief that things are just as they always were. Suggesting otherwise can lead to anger and worse. I chose not to labour the point with my wife as she would never accept it.

 

[Grannie G]

Hard though it seems @cside929 I agree with @northumbrian_k

There is no point in trying to explain dementia to someone who doesn`t want to know and is unable to accept a diagnosis.

This might give you some insight.

Compassionate Communication with the Memory Impaired

The following piece was posted a while ago on DSF and made a big impression on me. It is something I have referred to time after time and tried hard to follow. We have many new members who may not have seen it before. Yesterday I posted it on another Thread but thought it might be helpful if...

forum.alzheimers.org.uk

 

[canary]

My mum never accepted that he had dementia and would get very annoyed if I tried to remind her of what the doctor had said, so I just referred to her "poor memory" instead.

This inability to understand that there is something wrong with you is a very common (though little talked about) symptom of dementia called anosognosia