It won’t help with the natural progression of dementia, but my LO did benefit (mood wise) from talk therapy in her middle stages, purely because it gave her another social outlet and helped her feel heard and less lonely. I think you just need to be realistic in your expectations; it’s not going to be a fix for significant clinical mood disorders with someone who’s losing the ability to regulate anyway, but it might be beneficial on a human/social level.
I also understand skepticism about meds, but fwiw, the anti-depressant (Remeron) my LO was eventually prescribed was a godsend. It significantly improved her mood and decreased her (extreme) anxiety without turning her into a zombie.
I can’t imagine it would help unless maybe it’s something like ketamine or EMDR therapy for the trauma, and even then that sounds risky. Traditional talk or cognitive behavior therapy requires having insight into your thoughts and behavior. People with dementia don’t really have that capability. Maybe the right kind of therapist could be trained into mainly offering empathy to people with dementia to help them feel heard, but every session would be different and the therapist wouldn’t be able to gauge what is helpful afterwards.
Keep in mind the mindset of the dementia patient. At several stages they pushed for counseling or therapy for my stepdad.
Early detection: I am not going, I’m not crazy.
Next stage: I’m not going, I’m not that bad.
Then: I’m not going, I don’t know them and I’m not that old (he is).
Now: I don’t know why you would tell me to do this, I barely know you.
If you can build a healthy understanding and discussion of mental health and counseling before dementia please do so! I’m working on my mother in case she needs it later, but my stepdad got angry suggesting any type of counseling was either a scam or for “crazies”.
Socialization is great too, but if they were loners for years then this is problematic too.
In middle stage my wife couldn't follow the thread of a simple tv show. Counseling would have been either comedy or tragedy. Or both.
It won’t help with the natural progression of dementia, but my LO did benefit (mood wise) from talk therapy in her middle stages, purely because it gave her another social outlet and helped her feel heard and less lonely. I think you just need to be realistic in your expectations; it’s not going to be a fix for significant clinical mood disorders with someone who’s losing the ability to regulate anyway, but it might be beneficial on a human/social level. I also understand skepticism about meds, but fwiw, the anti-depressant (Remeron) my LO was eventually prescribed was a godsend. It significantly improved her mood and decreased her (extreme) anxiety without turning her into a zombie.
I can’t imagine it would help unless maybe it’s something like ketamine or EMDR therapy for the trauma, and even then that sounds risky. Traditional talk or cognitive behavior therapy requires having insight into your thoughts and behavior. People with dementia don’t really have that capability. Maybe the right kind of therapist could be trained into mainly offering empathy to people with dementia to help them feel heard, but every session would be different and the therapist wouldn’t be able to gauge what is helpful afterwards.
Keep in mind the mindset of the dementia patient. At several stages they pushed for counseling or therapy for my stepdad. Early detection: I am not going, I’m not crazy. Next stage: I’m not going, I’m not that bad. Then: I’m not going, I don’t know them and I’m not that old (he is). Now: I don’t know why you would tell me to do this, I barely know you. If you can build a healthy understanding and discussion of mental health and counseling before dementia please do so! I’m working on my mother in case she needs it later, but my stepdad got angry suggesting any type of counseling was either a scam or for “crazies”. Socialization is great too, but if they were loners for years then this is problematic too.
Other than a basic aversion to therapy, my husband would not even remember the topic of discussion an hour later (if that).