My father in law, Peter McMaster, was a gentle soul his whole life. He was a devoted father, avid soccer player and coach, and a salesman. He had what the Brits call \u201cthe gift of the gab.\u201d He could talk to anyone and wouldn\u2019t hurt a fly.<\/p>\n
Dementia changed all that. He became easily angered and frustrated.\u00a0 Moments of gentleness were few and far between.<\/p>\n
The first time he ever displayed aggressive behaviors we were totally shocked. \u201cAre you sure you have the right Pete?\u201d we wanted to ask. But sure enough, it was our Pete. An incident at his memory care community resulted in him aggressively attacking another resident with a coat hanger. Another incident involved him using inappropriate language to a staff member.<\/p>\n
We were apologetic and embarrassed! But there was no need for us to have those emotions. Aggressive behaviors in dementia patients, whether verbal or physical, are not an indication of who that person is. Simply put, it is the disease, not the person.<\/p>\n
These behaviors can be caused by a range of issues \u2013 frustration, fear, depression, anxiety. Those are big emotions! Maybe they are tired or hungry or bored. It could be a UTI or a medication issue. When behaviors do occur, try to think back to what happened right before the event. What could have triggered it?<\/p>\n
So, how should caregivers handle these situations? First of all, make sure that YOU are safe. Protect yourself and your loved one from doing any physical harm. If you can, walk away. If you are in danger, call 911 and explain to the EMTs that your loved one has dementia.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t get upset (easier said than done!) and don\u2019t let your big emotions make the situation worse. You can help by redirecting the person to a different activity.<\/p>\n
But remember\u2026 don\u2019t apologize. This is a devastating disease that can manifest in ugly ways. This isn\u2019t your fault or your loved one\u2019s fault. Find the resources you need, through your local CarePatrol advisor, a friend, a neighbor, your local chapter of the Alzheimer\u2019s Association. No one should ever face this alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My father in law, Peter McMaster, was a gentle soul his whole life. He was a devoted father, avid soccer player and coach, and a salesman. He had what the Brits call \u201cthe gift of the gab.\u201d He could talk to anyone and wouldn\u2019t hurt a fly. Dementia changed all that. He became easily angered…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-owner-voices"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carepatrol.com\/central-south-austin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carepatrol.com\/central-south-austin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carepatrol.com\/central-south-austin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carepatrol.com\/central-south-austin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/carepatrol.com\/central-south-austin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carepatrol.com\/central-south-austin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carepatrol.com\/central-south-austin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carepatrol.com\/central-south-austin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}