Dealing with Alzheimer's "Prickly" Behaviors

by Bev Janisch

As a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Dementia care, there were countless times when I was asked to consult about a person's challenging behaviors. These "prickly" behaviors, as I like to call them, can range from aggression, to restlessness, to verbal ranting and a whole spectrum of other things that are difficult to understand and deal with.

Learning to understand what these behaviors mean and how we need to respond is critical if we are to adequately support and care for the person with Dementia. All the good intentions in the world won't help if we don't learn to be Sherlock Holmes and get to the bottom of what is going on.

I never like to equate grown adults with Dementia to children, but there are times that it is helpful to understand certain things in this context. For example, when something is bothering a child, they often tell us by "acting out" behaviorally rather than explaining what is bothering them.  This is the same for people experiencing Dementia. They are trying to tell us that something is not right in their world.

So when we see those "prickly" behaviors we have to first look for physical causes such as pain, infection, depression, too much external stimulation resulting in an internal stress response or countless other physical causes. All too often, we jump too quickly to a medication that we hope will settle the behavior. When we do this, we're ignoring the underlying issue, which if left untreated will result in needless suffering.  The behavior is a symptom. What is it telling us???  We need to figure it out and address it so that the person's spiritual nature can shine through.

Share your stories and feel free to ask a question if you'd like to pick my Sherlock Holmes brain.