From: houndpup23x@gmail.com   
      
   Dementia 101: 6 Ways Dementia Changes How You Think   
      
   Kyrié Sue Carpenter     
   Posted: 12/24/14 11:33 AM ET Updated: 02/23/15 05:59 AM ET   
      
      
   Dementia is a scary word with an often scarier reality. Understanding the   
   experience of dementia, or as it is now clinically called Neurocognitive   
   Disorder (NCD), can help shift our perspective. As I mentioned in my inaugural   
   post in this series:   
      
   I know and see daily the challenges and suffering dementia can bring. I also   
   know and see daily the beautiful joys and learning it can bring, to those   
   experiencing it and those that care for them. My perception of dementia holds   
   both the challenges and    
   the joy, they are not mutually exclusive.   
   Six domains of cognition are used to paint a picture of dementia in the DSM,   
   the psychological world's guide to diagnosing. I will explain what the   
   so-called 'deficits' in each domain look like. I challenge you to think about   
   how these 'deficits' can    
   also be teachers. There is more to the picture of dementia than can be painted   
   by cognition alone. I remind you that cognition, or thinking, is the easiest   
   facet of the dementia phenomenon to measure and therefore is the basis for   
   diagnosing.   
      
   2014-12-23-DementiaDrawing.jpg   
   1. Complex Attention: One becomes more easily distracted and has trouble   
   paying attention and multitasking. In our fast pace media inundated world this   
   can be very challenging. Creating a space where one can go at their own pace,   
   and distractions are    
   limited, can be very helpful (for those with and without a diagnosis).   
      
   2. Executive Functioning: One's ability to perform tasks including planning,   
   organizing and making decisions becomes more challenging. Simplifying the   
   environment can be very comforting. Working together on projects can be   
   empowering. As executive    
   functioning decreases, an opportunity for simplification, learning to focus on   
   one thing at a time, and interdependence are created.   
      
   3. Memory: This is the most well known cognitive change. In some circles   
   dementia is even called forgetfulness. This is also the most relatable change   
   -- everyone has at one point or another forgotten something. In memory changes   
   with dementia, the brain    
   no longer remembers things the way it once did, nor does it learn things the   
   same way. Recent memories tend to fade first and forgetfulness recedes back in   
   time from there. Time becomes more fluid and specific details shift and lose   
   their weight. When    
   memory is not steadfast and linear the only truth becomes the moment. When we   
   forget, we can learn to be in the moment more.   
      
   4. Language: Language shifts in three ways. The first two are a yin-and-yang   
   of language, what are termed expressive and receptive language.   
      
   Expressive language: Basically one's ability to call up the word they desire   
   in a given moment. When ones expressive language decreases, words that are   
   available may be used rather than the most obvious word. For example; an   
   elevator become "the up down    
   up down up down."   
      
   Receptive language: The opposite; it describes when we hear a word knowing   
   what concept it connects to. For example; the word fork does not connect in   
   the brain to the object fork. These two types of language use do not change   
   equally. Someone may have    
   large changes in their expressive language and no changes in their receptive   
   language or vice versa.   
      
   The third way language shifts is in grammar and syntax.   
      
   These shifts in language are many times tragically perceived as a loss of   
   communication ability. Far from that, they are a shift in the way one   
   communicates. Often in my experience, not having the precise word on hand, or   
   having to describe things in a    
   more poetic way, offers a closer representation of pure communication, adding   
   to the message layers of personality and affect. If one can listen with   
   metaphorical ears, beautiful moments of connection, rather than just   
   frustration, are possible.   
      
   5. Perceptual -- Motor: This means understanding what one sees, it has to do   
   with how the brain and eyes speak to each other. For example; one may not be   
   able to connect that a hairbrush is for brushing hair just by seeing the   
   object. This can be    
   particularly frustrating to both the person experiencing the shift and to   
   those around them. This frustration mostly comes from a lack of understanding.   
   Using curiosity to try to understand your experience and how it differs from   
   who you are spending    
   time with is imperative.   
      
   6. Social-Cognition: With the phenomenon of dementia there is often a shift in   
   one's social behavior. This can range from perception of others emotions to   
   decreased inhibition. With a shift in social cognition there is less of a   
   filter between thoughts,    
   feelings and actions. All humans have thoughts and feelings that are not   
   socially acceptable. These are often fleeting and most of us have learned not   
   to act on them. As social cognition shifts, and this filter is removed, one   
   acts on these flashes of    
   emotion. The beauty of this, is that one always knows where they stand, there   
   is a brutal honesty of sorts.   
      
   It is important to remember that since these are in the moment, that is where   
   they should stay. Just as quickly as our inner thoughts and feelings can   
   change, so do the social behaviors of one with a change in social cognition.   
   When they are acting angry,   
    they are angry, when they are acting sweet and happy, they are sweet and   
   happy. Decreases in social cognition offer a mirror for observing one's inner   
   emotional landscape; they also offer behaviors that can be very telling of   
   unmet needs.   
      
   In the phenomenon of dementia these six domains of thinking change at a   
   different pace in every person. For both the person experiencing dementia, and   
   those that care about them, it is important to understand these changes.   
      
   When we can make meaning out of behaviors, it can alleviate anxiety and   
   suffering.   
      
   All of these can be perceived as 'deficits' but they can also be perceived as   
   changes. Using this gentler viewpoint, there is room for the difficulty   
   associated with these changes to be challenging, yet fruitful. Deficits call   
   to be fixed. Changes call    
   to be embraced and understood.   
      
      
   http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6373612   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)