People who have dementia may have to suffer its combative stage sometimes. It is considered a normal part of the disease and can occur in even those older adults who are typically kind and nonviolent. Damage occurring in their brain makes them aggressive and even violent. They usually do not speak to people, so that they may freak out due to anger, frustration, or fear. There are several ways and tips for dealing with aggressiveness in dementia. Dementia care services can also help. But here are a few quick tips to deal with aggressive behavior in dementia.
10 Tips For Dealing With Aggressive Behavior
- Be prepared
You should be careful and know about the symptoms of dementia. Aggressive behavior in our parent who has dementia is a normal symptom. You should be prepared to behave calmly and maintain a supportive response if you confront this situation. When you remind yourself about these behaviors and symptoms, you will handle the situation easily.
- Identify
When you confront the aggressive behavior of your older adult, try to immediately identify what happened just before the outburst. In this way, you will be able to make some effort to make your parent calm and, up to an extent, relaxed about the feeling.
- Pinpoint any Pain
When our Parent with Dementia has physical discomfort or pain, they may behave aggressively. Mostly, people who have dementia do not communicate clearly about discomfort as they cannot do so. The dementia care services have people who mostly know about these symptoms and ways to handle them. If your older adults stay with you and suffer from dementia, locating any pain they face can help you deal better.
- Be Gentle
When your elderly parent gets upset, it’s up to you how you handle the situation. Your gentle tone and calmness will enable you to face aggressive behavior. Take a deep breath and stay as relaxed as possible. Keep your tone soft, be supportive through positive behavior. If possible, use a calm touch on the shoulder or arm to provide assurance and support.
- Validate
If your parent is aggressive and there is no clear cause, it may be because they have a strong feeling of fear, sadness, or being alone. Sometimes, they are also coming with dementia that causes them to be confused or mentally impaired. At times, they may be agitated, angry, or aggressive. Try to find a reason for this specific emotion in their behavior and speak calmly. Try to make them feel that this emotion in their behavior is not a big deal and it’s ok to have it.
- Environmental Calmness
A busy environment may appeal to aggressiveness or a strong feeling of irritation. Keep noticing the appearance of the environment. Make calming environments, turn on the music at a low volume and turn off the TV. Following these steps will make the room calm and noiseless. And might be a reason to calm down the aggressive behavior of the older adult.
The environment of the room strongly matters to the older adult. Changes in it will make him feel differently about the things placed in the room. Bring positive changes in the environment, don’t make the room dark. Please turn on the lights when it starts to be dark outside. Shadows of things placed in the room make the people with dementia aggressive.
- Music
Music can help the parent amazingly. Try to find their favorite music and turn it on over a low volume. Play some relaxed and soft classical music to calm down the older adult. Playing music will make the environment joyful, and long tunes can quickly calm down the person.
Their favorite music will divert their attention, and the strong and negative feeling they are having right now will disappear in some time. Make a playlist of your parent’s favorite music and fix some hours in a day to play it. Playing some music will have some effect and will relax them.
- Focus
Your elderly parent can focus on some activity or a specific task that makes him strongly fearful, frustrated, or aggressive. When you confront this, be calm and shift their focus to any other activity without their notice. Try to grab their attention towards a different activity that will make them joyful.
Diverting their attention will make their aggressive feelings disappear soon. Moreover, this will also help you how you can make them relaxed for the next few hours.
- Leave
When you have tried all these things and can’t see the positive results, you should try to leave the room. The older adult may have strong feelings about frustration due to any movement in the room. Try to make them alone in the room to make them calm down. Giving them space will free them to divert their attention to anything or activity in the room. Please do not do this for long hours, and it may be dangerous for their safety.
- Safety
If your older adult trusts a person in your family, try to call them immediately in an emergency. Make sure their trustworthy person is near to them, and they can talk to him easily.
You call dementia care services or the dementia home care provider to attain emergency help in an emergency. The safety of your parent and yourself should be the ty. If you notice that you cannot handle the elderly parent, don’t mess with them and try to connect with a dementia specialist immediately.
Conclusion
The ways and tips in this article are for all those living with their elderly Parent with Dementia. The key to making aggressive situations normalize is to keep these 10 tips for dealing with aggressive behavior in mind.
Try to be calm and relaxed about any behavior of your elderly parent. Be patient and notice the reason behind their specific feeling or frustration. Following these methods will make you realize the reason for a particular behavior.
If you notice that you cannot handle the situation, you should immediately call the dementia care services. They have skilled people who can handle the elderly parents and make them calm down.
