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- Research has shown us that family and friends can play a huge role in helping patients deal with a chronic illness. When a person is suffering from a chronic illness, it's important that they feel truly cared about. What matters most is how people interact with the sick person.
www.apa.org/topics/chronic-illness/helpHow to help a friend or loved one suffering from a chronic ...
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Aug 21, 2024 · Finding out you have a incurable disease or serious illness, such as cancer or heart disease, can turn your world upside down. These tips can help you cope.
- If your loved one has to make lifestyle changes, it can be a great help if you make the same changes yourself. This could be eating healthily with them or encouraging them to do exercise with you.
- Talk to them about how they’re feeling and how they feel they’re coping – or encourage them to talk to another relative or friend.
- Medical appointments can be intimidating, and it’s hard to take everything in when you’re getting stressful news. Why not offer to go to their appointment with them?
- Sometimes it is hard to remember to take medications. It can be helpful to put a medicines reminder in your own schedule and then remind your loved one to take them, especially as they may not feel like bothering.
- Loving her. I’m lucky I married someone I came to deeply love. There are so many things about her I find lovable: We have a perspective on life that is different from most people’s: We’re so in sync about politics, the generations’ culture, music, literature, and movies.
- Acceptance of the situation. As the Stoics urge, I accept rather than rebel against reality. That helps me deal with it rather than give myself a hard time.
- Looking forward. I don’t allow myself to dwell on the past, like “This is what Janice used to be able to do and now can’t." Rather, I think of each day as a baseline and about how we can move forward from here.
- Daily writing: 3-minute exercises. Per Albert Ellis’s Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy, you identify the thinking that’s dragging you down: “I must solve this.
- Take care of yourself. Start by making self-care a priority, Wilson says. Get enough sleep, eat healthy foods and get some exercise. “When a loved one is going through an illness and there’s an increase in stress, then taking care of yourself is really hard to do,” she says.
- Get away for breaks. Whether your loved one is in the hospital or receiving care at home, give yourself permission to take breaks. “It’s not only OK, it’s healthy,” Wilson says.
- Identify your support network. You don’t have to do it all alone, Wilson says. Remember, you are going through your own shock and grief. “Everybody deserves the opportunity not to be the strong one all the time,” she says.
- Ask for help. At first, the diagnosis may be all you can focus on. But there are responsibilities that must be tended to—pets to care for, trash to roll to the curb, bills to pay, grass to cut and leaves to rake.
- Overview
- What impact does Alzheimer’s have on family and loved ones?
- How to get your loved one medical support
- How to get your loved one emotional support
- Coping with anger or aggression from people with Alzheimer’s
- How to help people with Alzheimer’s remember their lives
- Takeaway
Supporting a family member through Alzheimer’s can be a difficult process, but there’s mental health help available for both of you.
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive form of dementia, a condition that causes changes in a person’s memory, language, thinking, and behavior. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, affecting an estimated 6.5 million people in the United States alone as of 2022.
Because Alzheimer’s is progressive, it can eventually affect every aspect of a person’s life, including their relationships with loved ones. And whether you’re the caregiver of a person with Alzheimer’s or close to someone living with the disease, it can sometimes feel difficult and overwhelming for everyone involved.
So, let’s discuss how to cope with Alzheimer’s as a family member, including how to get the right support for you and your loved one.
Alzheimer’s disease can have a huge impact on not only the person living with it but also their family members and loved ones ― especially loved ones who are caregivers. When someone is a caregiver to someone living with Alzheimer’s, it can significantly affect their physical and emotional health.
One small 2022 study explored the physical, emotional, and social impact of Alzheimer’s on caregivers. Results of the study found that 58% of caregivers had increased stress, 47% became sleep deprived, and 43% felt socially isolated from other family members, among other difficulties.
But it’s not just the increased demands of being a caregiver that can affect family members and loved ones. As Alzheimer’s progresses, people living with it can experience challenges completing daily tasks, communicating with others, and remembering their family members and friends.
For many people who have loved ones with Alzheimer’s, this can be a painful process to observe and be a part of.
As Alzheimer’s progresses into the later stages, it can become more difficult for a person to perform various tasks in their daily life. For example, you might notice that your loved one has difficulty remembering people, places, or events or maintaining hygiene, eating, and drinking.
During these later stages of Alzheimer’s, your loved one may require additional caregiver support ― sometimes more than you can offer. When this happens, there’s no shame in reaching out for medical support.
Sometimes, you can do this directly through a primary care physician, as they may be familiar with your loved one’s situation and can refer you to the appropriate care.
However, you can also find support through national organizations, many of which specialize in providing education, search tools, and other resources that can help your loved one get the care they need.
Mental health support can be especially beneficial for people living with Alzheimer’s and their loved ones, especially as they navigate through the process of managing the disease in the long term.
Sometimes, this support is purely emotional, like having weekly or monthly sessions with a licensed therapist. Other times, it can look like trying different approaches that may benefit people with Alzheimer’s, like art and music therapy.
If you believe that you or a loved one would benefit from mental health support after an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, here are a few resources to get you started:
•MentalHealth.gov
•Mental Health First Aid
•National Institute of Mental Health
As Alzheimer’s symptoms worsen with the progression of the disease, it can sometimes lead to episodes of agitation, anger, or even aggression.
If you notice that your loved one experiences more of these symptoms, it’s natural to feel confused or hurt. But it’s important to understand that there’s usually a reason that someone with Alzheimer’s experiences these emotions or expresses these behaviors.
For example, if your loved one is in physical pain or discomfort but can’t express that to you in words, they may express it with anger instead. Or if they have a hard time adjusting emotionally to changes around them, this can lead to frustration and even aggression.
One of the best ways to approach these situations is to remain gentle and understanding. If you can figure out the underlying cause of these emotions or behaviors, you can help ease some of that frustration or anger.
Use visual aids
Photographs and videos are some of the most helpful tools for people with dementia because they can serve as a great reminder of past people, places, or events. Sometimes, simply looking at a photo or video can help bring back memories.
Engage with them
While showing someone a photo can help stir up their memory, engaging with your loved one about the memory can be even more helpful and meaningful. Of course, you don’t want to force them to try and remember ― just sparking gentle conversation is enough.
Be understanding
When someone with Alzheimer’s has challenges remembering things, try to remember that it’s not their fault. Even if it hurts that your loved one can’t remember your name or any activities you’ve done together, try to understand that it’s the disease, not them.
Alzheimer’s disease may affect not only those with it but also their family members and loved ones. If someone you love has received a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, there’s support available to help you navigate the process of living with and managing it.
If someone you love is diagnosed with cancer or a life-threatening disease, you may feel desperate and completely helpless. But it doesn't have to be that way. Research has shown us that family and friends can play a huge role in helping patients deal with a chronic illness.
Jun 21, 2011 · Family emphasis on self-reliance and personal achievement, family cohesion, and attentive responses to symptoms were associated with better patient outcomes. Critical, overprotective, controlling, and distracting family responses to illness management were associated with negative patient outcomes.
