Question
What are some symptoms of dementia and the resultant behavior?
Answer
Symptoms are things that we cannot change. Symptoms are the outcome of a disease process. Things such as short attention span or poor judgment would be part of the disease process. Generally with dementia, due to the changes that occur in the brain chemistry, there are also behaviors that are not intentional. What we can do is recognize when these behaviors are symptoms and adapt the activities and tasks that we provide for those clients or residents. Some examples of symptoms and resulting behaviors are:
Short attention span
Inability to stay focused on a task
Impatience
Fidgeting and restlessness
Poor judgment or decision-making
Impulsiveness
Inappropriate social behaviors
Risk-taking
Disorientation
Getting lost
Disoriented to time, to place, and sometimes to person
Mixing up past and present
Memory loss
Confabulation- when the client confabulates or makes up stories to be able to cover for their deficits
Anxiety or fear
Difficulty initiating or following through with familiar tasks
Avoidance of social contact
Difficulty with Concentration
Difficulty performing familiar tasks or activities
Frustration
Impatience
Avoidance of social contact
Apathy/Disinterest
Perceptual deficits
Bumping into things
Knocking things over
“Freezing” or suddenly stopping
Inability to use objects appropriately
Difficulty performing familiar tasks
Motor or gait disturbances
Confusion
Fear, anxiety or sadness
Frustration/anger
Language and communication deficits
Avoidance of social contact
Frustration and sadness
Problems with abstract thinking
Take verbal instructions very literally
What is crucial is knowing the behaviors that can lead to an incident or cause someone to harm themselves or another person. This is when we need to interact from a skilled therapy level.
