Sometimes, dementia can provoke so much aggression and anger that the person and those around them are no longer safe. If this happens, it's time to call a doctor. Medication should never be the first choice in dealing with challenging behaviors. There are times, though, when it may be needed.
The middle stages of dementia are when anger and aggression are most likely to start occurring as symptoms, along with other worrying habits like wandering, hoarding, and compulsive behaviors that may seem unusual.
Dementia may result in anger because people who're experiencing dementia have lost the ability to consider why other people say or do things and so, take things personally. If a person with dementia feels safe, listened to and respected in your care, anger is much less likely.
Agitation (physical or verbal aggression, general emotional distress, restlessness, pacing, shredding paper or tissues and/or yelling). Delusions (firmly held belief in things that are not real). Hallucinations (seeing, hearing or feeling things that are not there).
Dementia can cause a person to behave in a 'sexual' way that they and people around them may find challenging. A person with dementia may experience changes in how they respond to sex, be inappropriate or aggressive, mistake a person for someone else, or behave sexually in public.
There are a few strategies that can help you cope with these situations. Give the person space and time, don't argue, and try to find distractions. Don't overload the person with too many caregivers at once. It may also help to change caregivers.
To caregivers, this behavior may come across as intentionally manipulative, but this is rarely the case. “Dementia patients lose cognitive skills like logic, reasoning, problem-solving and decision-making,” explains Poiley. “So beyond the very beginning stages, a patient really couldn't be truly manipulative.”
Even if they don't understand their error, correcting them may embarrass or be otherwise unpleasant for them. Don't Argue With the Person: It's never a good idea to argue with a person who has dementia. First of all, you can't win. And second, it will probably upset them or even make them angry.
On average it lasts about one to two years.
Meanness as an early symptom of dementia
Late-life cynical hostility, a type of meanness based on a mistrust of others, was linked in a 2021 study to white matter changes in the brain that may be early indicators of Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's Aggression: What You Can Do. Sometimes, people with Alzheimer's disease lash out for no clear reason. They may get upset or angry easily. They may curse, hurl insults, or scream.
The person may be having delusions (strongly believing things that aren't true), or hallucinations (seeing things that aren't there). This can be confusing and frightening, so the person with dementia may respond in an aggressive way. The person may be sexually frustrated and become agitated as a result.
Trying to force a person with dementia to accept personal care constitutes abuse. It is a fundamental human right to say 'no'. However, neglecting someone's personal care needs can also be abusive, as the person's health may be put at risk.
As dementia progresses it is common to experience memory loss, confusion, difficulty with language, problems with thinking, judgement, and decision-making. People with dementia should not be living alone without care if they are suffering any cognitive impairment that could lead to them coming to any harm at home.
Someone with Alzheimer's disease may start rummaging or searching through cabinets, drawers, closets, the refrigerator, and other places where things are stored. He or she also may hide items around the house. This behavior can be annoying or even dangerous for the caregiver or family members.
It's true that in the early stages of the disease, people with dementia might fib to cover for memory loss. But most examples of “lying” are dementia symptoms rather than intentional deception. “They're more like an unconscious defense mechanism,” says Kallmyer.
Dementia can affect a person's personality and habits, which may lead to changes in behaviour. For example, they may no longer be able to do things they enjoy or follow their interests without help, or they may experience symptoms of depression.
In addition, individuals with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias frequently become unable to appreciate other people's feelings or needs as sensitively as they once did. As a result, they can seem “selfish” or “self-centered”, and uncaring about other peoples' needs or feelings.
Stage 6. In stage 6 of dementia, a person may start forgetting the names of close loved ones and have little memory of recent events. Communication is severely disabled and delusions, compulsions, anxiety, and agitation may occur.
Systematic review: In a PubMed literature review, we identified only one study that analyzed survival in a large, unscreened sample of people with incident dementia from routine care data. Interpretation: In people with dementia, median time until institutionalization was 3.9 years, and 5.0 years until death.
If a person's dementia has progressed far enough that they need more care and support than you can provide, it may be time for them to go into a care home. At this point, they may need 24-hour care. Dementia is progressive, meaning the person with the condition will require more care and support as time goes on.