Delusional Thinking and Dementia

See the The Imperfect Caregiver website: for discussion and an audiobook excerpt. Love this website!

https://theimperfectcaregiver.com/2020/08/01/caregiver-you-are-not-alone-anns-story/

My comment:
My friend suffered from a brain injury during surgery in December 2012. She was impacted physically (with the use of only 3 limbs), mentally (hard to determine since she maintains many thinking skills and abilities), and emotionally (personality has changed in significant ways). It’s confusing because despite the losses, when it comes to her mind, there is much that has been maintained. So it is particularly frustrating for her spouse when my friend expresses one particular delusion that she insists is true, when obviously to everyone else, it’s false. The delusion: she walks. I usually hear her husband say something about it is common sense she cannot walk and she should know that. My response to her is that her desire to walk, her dreams and recollections so strong, that it is easy for her to believe she walks–and then I add that I think it is delightful that she is able to enjoy that memory so realistically. I’m not sure what the experts would say about this but to me, it seems a workable compromise between the two extremes of believing and disbelieving. Read the whole story in “What to Do about Mama?” by Barbara G. Matthews and Barbara Trainin Blank.

Katie’s Story in Twenty-five Episodes:

Part One (October 2014)

https://bgmatthewsblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/shifting-gears/

through

Part Twenty-five (April 2015)

https://bgmatthewsblog.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/where-do-we-go-from-here-katies-story-part-twenty-five/

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