Hello and welcome to episode 22 of my series of tiny talks related to dementia.
Today I will speak about misunderstood behaviors.
Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia,
Or BPSD for short,
Neuropsychiatric symptoms,
Or problem behavior,
Agitation,
Aggression,
Restlessness.
What do these terms have in common?
Two things.
One,
They are negative and two,
They seem inevitable.
All too often people say she can't help what she is doing,
It is because of her dementia.
Although this may be a kind-hearted explanation to avoid putting blame on a person,
It highlights the inevitability of the behavior.
She has dementia,
So she will develop these behaviors.
How do we know she has dementia?
Because we observe these behaviors.
Why does she behave the way she does?
Because she has dementia.
There is no way out of this kind of reasoning.
The overall message is that behaviors and dementia go hand in hand.
As dementia cannot be treated,
We just have to put up with these behaviors as well.
Because they are part of dementia and dementia is here to stay.
Now it is always true that the behaviors that are talked about have started since this person has been diagnosed with dementia.
Otherwise they would not catch our eyes as much.
If someone has always been somewhat socially inappropriate,
This cannot be seen as a sign of developing dementia.
A sign may be that the intensity or frequency is ameliorated.
Or are completely new for this person.
Like the woman who had worked as a journalist throughout her life.
A bastion of white male supremacy at the time.
Who knows what she had put up with during her working life.
Something came up when she was in the intermediate stage of dementia.
She cussed constantly.
It felt like everything she had heard or bottled up just came out.
I prefer to call these behaviors misunderstood.
First of all this term places a neutral label on the behaviors.
Secondly the term invites us to improve.
Because we are the ones who misunderstand.
Moving furniture around becomes setting up the workplace for the motor mechanic.
Bending and picking up invisible things goes back to a habit and love of gardening.
Both communicate a need for meaningful activity.
And constant swearing.
A need for connection.
When our researcher got through to her after two sessions,
There were tears and then mutual understanding and closeness.
