Neuro Note #5 - Dementia

 For my final neuro note, I chose to read an article called “Playing Along with A Dementia Patient’s Realities” written my Carol Bradley Bursack. I chose this article because we just learned about dementia and Alzheimer’s in class, so I thought it would be beneficial to me to find another way to further my learning.

In this article, Bursack talks about her father, who sustained a closed head injury when he was younger that would later be the cause of his severe dementia. The scar tissue from his original injury caused fluid to build up, and when he went for a procedure to get it removed, it left him with his dementia. Bursack explains how she tried to live in her dad’s reality instead of trying to make him live in hers. Her dad was always insisting that he had won an award or gotten another degree and would be looking for his certificates. Instead of trying to help him understand that this wasn’t true, Bursack would make fake certificates for him. She said there was no harm in that, it made him happy, and it wasn’t hurting anyone else, so why not do it? It was easier to go along with him than to make him frustrated or upset for no true reason. One psychiatrist thought she was out of line for doing this and should not play into his imagination, but a different psychiatrist seemed to be impressed and wanted to know where she learned to cope in that way. Her only response was that she was “his daughter,” so she knew what he needed. She later learned that what she was doing was called “validation therapy,” but she did not need to know that in order to know how to care for her father.

Because of this article, I chose to look deeper into validation therapy. The method was developed by a woman named Naomi Feil as a way to help those who have dementia or Alzheimer’s be at peace in the hardest moments of their life. Validation therapy was described as holistic, empathetic, and empowering, which obviously screamed occupational therapy to me! Much of what validation therapy entails is making sure the client is comfortable to aid in their happiness and overall quality of life. An exampled Feil used is if a mother who has dementia thinks that someone is throwing away her precious possessions, instead of telling her she is wrong, a caregiver would play into the scenario or redirect her by saying something like “Your wedding ring is gone. You think I’ve stolen it?” or “How did you and Dad meet?”. I enjoyed learning about this type of therapy because I think it could really help save a lot of heartache and arguments between families and their loved ones with dementia. If I am ever working in a setting that has clients with this disease or if one of my own family members ever is diagnosed with it, this is something I will be sure to keep in mind.

 

References:

Bursack, C. B. (2008, March 3). Playing Along with A Dementia Patient's Realities. A Caregiver's Personal Story: Playing Along with Dementia Realities - AgingCare.com. https://www.agingcare.com/articles/playing-along-with-dementia-realities-121365.htm.

Wegerer, J. (2019, March 11). Empathy for Alzheimer's: The Validation Method. https://www.alzheimers.net/2013-11-07-validation-method-for-alzheimers.