Get out, get out, get out…you stupid Bitch, she screams repeatedly beyond physical exhaustion and vocal strain. She is a woman who has dementia and she is not talking to another person, she is talking to an image perceived of in her mind.

One minute this image appears to be friendly even familiar and the next the image is a perpetrator, nemesis, potential killer. This woman is having what is referred to as a hallucination and they sometimes happen in people with dementia. In a traditional medical setting dementia with hallucinations are evaluated to look for acute causes that could be reversible and then often antipsychotics, sedatives or other medications would be prescribed.

If you’re asking what is behind these hallucinations, why do they just happen and what can be done, you are not alone?

For the sake of this exploration it is important to know the following terminology:

Hallucination: an experience involving the apparent perception of something not present.

Delusion: an idiosyncratic belief or impression that is firmly maintained despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted or rational argument.

Hallucinations are frightening, intrusive, often relentless and reactive past traumas. If you are watching someone you love and care about experience these hallucinations you feel scared, helpless and worried about their safety, well-being and what can happen next.

These hallucinations could be the emergence of repressed feelings, pain, shame and fears that often start in early childhood. When a person with dementia loses the cortical space, cushion, buffer that blocks, represses these earlier moments then hallucinations have no bounds.

Note: authors opinion:

COVID was a catalyst. The last 3.5 years have been undoubtedly tumultuous, overwhelming and conflicting. COVID is simultaneously taking each ounce of faith, patience and grace to confront uncomfortable thoughts, have difficult discussions about life, pain, suffering. More to follow in other blogs...

Dementia is a terminal diagnosis with the most common cause being Alzheimer’s, followed by Vascular and Lewy Body, frontal lobe and Parkinson’s.

Behaviors including hallucinations and paranoias are common in people with Dementia.

If you are caring for a person living with dementia and they have not expressed, demonstrated a behavior, emotion that feels unsettling then this guide is even more valuable and important. If the person you’re caring for is showing difficult emotions, thoughts, reactions this guide is for you…

LET’S GET STARTED: How to interact and maintain safety

1. Be Safe

2. Listen to the words as your cues

3. Do not argue or correct

4. Do Not Panic- self soothe first

5. Self care before you enter the environment

If you found reading this blog about dementia and behaviors informative, useful to you and you would like to receive more personalized support, insight and guidance schedule a free consult at enlightenedaging.org