Neuro Note 5

 

I read the article "Playing Along with a Dementia Patient's Realities" by Carol Bradley Bursack.

https://www.agingcare.com/articles/playing-along-with-dementia-realities-121365.htm

In this article, a women tells a story of how she manages to interact with her father who has dementia. Her father went to medical school at the University of Minnesota. However, when World War 2 broke out,  he went to war. While he was there, he had a major set back when he sustained a closed head injury. He remained in the army until the war was over but stayed Stateside and trained to become a sanitarian. Years later, while working a full time job as a sanitation, he went back to school and graduated. As he aged, fluid began to build up behind the scar tissue that was in his brain. Her father underwent surgery to drain the fluid but instead,  he woke up in a severe state of dementia. 

Now, her father lives in a nursing home near the daughters home. He lives in his own little world and is not aware of what is really going on around him. She gives an example of how her father had constantly mentioned waiting on his medical degree to come from the U of M and wondered why it was taking so long to arrive. She tried to let this state of delusional thinking disappear but it never did. In response, she created a fake medical degree with his name on it and gave to him at the nursing home. Her father was finally pleased. 

A psychiatrist found out what she was doing one day and scolded her for this behavior. She was told that she needed to stop playing her dad's game and instead bring him back to reality. She stood by her belief that arguing with her father in his delusional thinking would only make him feel degraded. The idea of her father coming back to "reality" was impossible and it was much more satisfying for him if she could just join his world. I mean what can it hurt at this point, right? She eventually found that her coping technique was actually a real thing called validation therapy. Individuals who are living with dementia are in a world that IS real to them. 

This article inspired me because I can relate to it on so many levels. My grandfather has been fighting Alzheimer's disease for 3 years now. Just like Carol's dad, my grandfather lives in his own world filled with delusional thinking. Just like Carol's dad, my granddad gets very confused and frustrated if you are arguing with what he believes to be true. My family and I have learned over time that it is much easier to accept the state that he is in and to go with the flow. My granddad, who has been in the nursing home for almost a year now, still believes that he is on a temporary stay at a hospital or clinic. As I visited him a few weeks back, I felt as if I was running out of things to talk about that he would actually understand. So I asked " How are they feeding you up here granddaddy, I know how much you love to eat? He responded, "Ahhhh, I don't know yet, I just got here." Instead of correcting him, I went along with his thinking. Instances like this happen everyday with my granddad and no matter how hard it is to accept, the progressiveness of this disease is inevitable. Carol made a statement in which I whole heartedly believe in:  "Why should I, a person who supposedly can use their brain, make his life miserable by continually telling him he is wrong?"  

As I look into my future as an occupational therapist, I know that there will be many circumstances in which it is acceptable to use the validation therapy technique. As long as it is not harming my clients, I want to provide them with peace and confidence. At the end of the day, we are aiming to increase the quality of life of our clients and we can not expect to reach this goal if we are constantly belittling our them. 

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.