There are few things more painful than watching someone you love suffer from the effects of dementia. Dementia, a progressive neurological disease, can cause problems with more than just memory loss. It can also impair visual perception, reasoning, judgment, and even a person's language. It can be heartbreaking to watch a previously healthy and self-reliant adult suffer the consequences of these symptoms. Fortunately, there are treatments like geriatric short-term occupational therapy that can provide some improvement in the quality of life to patients with dementia. Occupational therapy is a mode of treatment that focuses on improving daily life skills, skills that may have previously been simple but have now become difficult due to dementia. The goal of occupational therapy is to help those with dementia manage their symptoms in order to live as normally as possible. Here are four ways that occupational therapy can provide help.
Reduces Problems with Behavior
People suffering from dementia often experience extreme frustration at being unable to do tasks that were once simple. Occupational therapy can assist with these behavioral problems by reducing the triggers that cause frustration. For example, a person with dementia may feel frustration and confusion when attempting to select seasonal-appropriate clothing. An occupational therapist can help a care provider reduce seasonal clothing options and organize in them such a way that improves the ease of selection so that the process doesn't trigger frustration.
Helps Communication
One of the most beneficial services that occupational therapy can provide is improving communication between those with dementia and their caregivers. Identifying non-verbal cues and responding non-defensively to emotional outbursts are essential aspects of effective communication. Working on this communication process is essential in helping the patient return to as normal a life as possible.
Reduces the Burden on the Caregiver
Another essential way that short-term occupational therapy can assist people with dementia is by reducing the burden that the caregiver must shoulder in order to care for their loved one or client, thereby minimizing the conflict experienced by both. Reducing conflict triggered by the symptoms of dementia will only improve the patient's quality of life. When the burden on the caregiver is reduced, the person suffering from dementia will in turn feel like they are less of a burden to their caregiver.
Helps Improve the Enjoyment of Life
The number-one goal of occupational therapy is to help the patient restore as much normal function as possible to their life despite their disability. A sense of normalcy and self-reliance are essential to the enjoyment of life.
For more information on occupational therapy, contact an organization like Carerite Centers-The Riverside Premier Rehabilitation and Healing Center.
Share7 February 2019
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