Quote:
Originally Posted by Murf the Surf
It's a terrible disease, my father in law passed away from it. In the beginning it was just a bit challenging. He mostly knew what was going on and just needed a bit more help with somethings. Then he started wandering so he had to go into long term care. He lived in there about 18 months, the decline was fast and brutal. Start to finish about 7 years, he was 77 when he passed.
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Dealing with my dad, who is in... early-mid stages of dementia.
He's starting to become destructive around my parents' house, including last week accidentally setting fire to the living room sofa. The worst part is, he's incredibly defensive or dismissive of his actions as related to the damage caused by his behaviour.
I think the defensiveness is a result of some portion of the brain feeling shame and embarrassment, but it's unable to deal with the hard emotions of admitting that his hands-on fixing and building skills, something that he prided himself on, are no longer there. As a result, in many situations when people avoid hard emotions, they project defensiveness and anger, when truly they're dealing with sadness, worry and grief.