Dementia: A Caregiver's Guide

Dementia is a progressive brain disease, and people with dementia struggle with memory loss, an inability to think clearly, difficulty maintaining a stable mood, and difficulty perform common daily functions such as eating, bathing, and communicating with others.

While people with dementia struggle with daily life, the caregivers for people with dementia have special challenges too. The Family Caregiver Alliance offers detailed information for the caregivers of people with dementia, including:

• Ten Tips for Communicating with a Person with Dementia
• Six Tips for Handling Troubling Behavior

The Family Caregiver Alliance also provides an overview of the most common dementia behaviors and how to handle them:

• Wandering
• Incontinence
• Agitation
• Repetitive speech or actions (perseveration)
• Paranoia
• Sleeplessness/Sundowning
• Eating and Nutrition
• Bathing
• Dressing
• Hallucinations
• Sexually inappropriate behavior
• Verbal outbursts
• “Shadowing,” or imitating and interrupting the caregiver
• Resistance to daily activities
• A recommended reading list for caregivers of people with dementia

If you are the caregiver of someone with dementia, look for information and support in the Caregiver's Guide to Understanding Dementia Behaviors from the Family Caregiver Alliance.