Why Someone With Dementia Keeps Asking the Same Question and How to Respond
When someone living with dementia asks the same question over and over, it can test even the most patient caregiver. “What time are we leaving?” “Where is my purse?” “When is my daughter coming?” You answer. A minute later, they ask again. Then again. It may feel as though they are ignoring you, challenging you, […]
The Ethics of Therapeutic Fibbing: When Comfort Outweighs the Truth in Dementia Care
For anyone raised on the principle that “honesty is the best policy,” caregiving for a loved one with dementia presents a painful moral paradox. During my six+ years as a caregiver for three family members, I faced this dilemma constantly: Do I tell the truth and cause immediate emotional trauma, or do I “fib” to […]