Responding to Hard Questions

One of the significant challenges of caregiving for someone with progressive dementia is knowing how to respond to difficult questions and statements. Daily Caring addresses this struggle in two articles about therapeutic fibbing and reacting to a person’s desire to go home when they cannot. In caring for someone with dementia, it is better to step into their reality and affirm their emotions rather than forcing a truth and reality that can be a cruel revelation to the person. This is where therapeutic fibbing comes in, because it decreases their agitation, confusion, and fear in the moment. And since dementia care primarily consists of living in the moment, this proves to be a helpful, person-centered approach. Redirection, validation, reassurance, and meeting the person where they are turn out to be valuable strategies as well.

Find out more by reading Therapeutic Fibbing: Why Experts Recommend Lying to Someone with Dementia and 3 Ways to Respond When Someone with Alzheimer's Says I Want to Go Home.