{"id":15223,"date":"2024-10-23T15:05:02","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T15:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=15223"},"modified":"2024-10-23T15:24:30","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T15:24:30","slug":"how-caregivers-for-dementia-patients-manage-mood-and-personality-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=15223","title":{"rendered":"How Caregivers for Dementia Patients Manage Mood and Personality Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shifts in behavior can be challenging to manage. Experts have five strategies that can help.<\/p>\n

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Susan Hirsch was visiting her father in the hospital where he was recuperating after a fall and was shocked to find him \u2014 long devoted to her mother \u2014 flirting with a nurse as if he were \u201c17 and in the Navy again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ms. Hirsch, a 67-year-old memory care educator from Palmyra, Pa., scolded her father. But the admonishment only enraged the 93-year-old man; she recalled him saying, \u201cin not nice words,\u201d to get out of his room as she scuttled away.<\/p>\n

More than 11 million adults in the United States are caring for people diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s and other forms of dementia. In addition to memory loss, most people with dementia will experience mood and behavior changes including aggression, apathy, disorientation, depression, wandering, impulsivity and delusions.<\/p>\n

Many caregivers<\/a> describe mood and personality changes as the most upsetting symptoms. While antipsychotic and sedative medications are often used to manage dementia-related mood issues, they have limited efficacy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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To get on top of \u2014 and feel less toppled by \u2014 mood changes, it\u2019s helpful for caregivers to remember that those shifts are caused by changes in the brain, said Dr. Nathaniel Chin, a geriatrician and associate professor in the department of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re no one\u2019s fault,\u201d he said, and recognizing this can help you \u201cfeel less upset at your loved one.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shifts in behavior can be challenging to manage. Experts have five strategies that can help.Susan Hirsch was visiting her father in the hospital where he was recuperating after a fall and was shocked to find him \u2014 long devoted to her mother \u2014 flirting with a nurse as if he were \u201c17 and in the Navy again,\u201d she said.Ms. Hirsch, a 67-year-old memory care educator from Palmyra, Pa., scolded her father. But the admonishment only enraged the 93-year-old man; she recalled him saying, \u201cin not nice words,\u201d to get out of his room as she scuttled away.More than 11 million adults in the United States are caring for people diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s and other forms of dementia. In addition to memory loss, most people with dementia will experience mood and behavior changes including aggression, apathy, disorientation, depression, wandering, impulsivity and delusions.Many caregivers describe mood and personality changes as the most upsetting symptoms. While antipsychotic and sedative medications are often used to manage dementia-related mood issues, they have limited efficacy.To get on top of \u2014 and feel less toppled by \u2014 mood changes, it\u2019s helpful for caregivers to remember that those shifts are caused by changes in the brain, said Dr. Nathaniel Chin, a geriatrician and associate professor in the department of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.\u201cThey\u2019re no one\u2019s fault,\u201d he said, and recognizing this can help you \u201cfeel less upset at your loved one.\u201dWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15225,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15223"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15226,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15223\/revisions\/15226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}