Stress and Dementia Care
April is Stress Awareness Month.
We all experience stress. It is the same experience for a person living with dementia as it is for a person without. The difference is as the dementia progresses, it can be harder for the person living with it to communicate or express what might be upsetting them. Sometimes this can lead to a change in their presentation, and it could be physical or psychological.
Here are four strategies that you as a carer, informal or professional, can use to mitigate stress in a person living with dementia:
1. Protection
If you sense a change in presentation we recommend that you, first and foremost, take a step back. Protect both yourself and the person living with dementia with a calm approach. If stress continues to accumulate, the change in presentation could become physical.
2. Investigation
Take a proactive approach to understand the root cause of the stress. Investigate triggers and underlying factors that could contribute to the change in presentation. Early intervention can prevent stress from escalating. The minute you can sense a change in presentation, try to ascertain what it means.
Naomi Feil, a significant voice in dementia care, says “there is always a reason people with dementia do what they do”. It is up to us to try and investigate and interpret what the person we care for is trying to say. Often they will mirror our presentation – if the carer is stressed then this will affect the person living with dementia.
3. Understanding
Try your best to stay calm. Understand that the person living with dementia may not mean what they say if their words can be interpreted as inappropriate, nasty, or bullying.
We find that we often get stressed because we struggle to understand a situation. For a person that lives with dementia, they may not understand their condition – they may struggle to perform tasks they ordinarily could with ease. A change in presentation, then, could be them letting us know they are angry, sad, or upset.
In other words, they are asking for help.
4. Meaningful Engagement
What can you do if you are not sure what the person with dementia is asking for? Engage them in a way that is meaningful to them. Base it on their preferences, interests, and abilities. This can help foster a sense of purpose and fulfilment. Meaningful engagement not only reduces stress, but also enhances well-being.
Stress Awareness Month is a reminder of the complexities of stress. It is difficult to create one strategy that works in every situation, but by prioritising protection, investigation, understanding, and meaningful engagement, you can create a supportive environment where stress can be reduced.
Written by Miki Max Fagerli-Schmidt and David Wilson-Wynne