The importance of the family: lights and shadows

Alzheimer's disease, in addition to drug treatment, rehabilitation therapy and orientation to reality, reactivate mobility, the music and the other tools used to help the sick to keep alive his contact with the outside world, there are three elements who have the fundamental role of the pillar system, and that must be taken into consideration before any other: they are family, caregiver, and finally, of course, the patient himself.

During the conference Alzheimer X, which will read below the record, was highlighted on several occasions the importance of the role of the family in Alzheimer's disease. However, not always discusses some of the negative aspects of the patient living with his entourage. In fact, the interactions between these three elements will be crucial not only for his welfare but also in some cases for his malaise. There is no longer able to intervene actively in the affairs that affect his daily life, the patient is forced to passively accept decisions made for him by those who care. If such decisions are taken lovingly having in mind the good of the patient and respecting their dignity, they will feel supported, well connected to its past and will enjoy security and stability.

If the family or the caregiver does not accept the disease and not surround the patient with a 'soothing atmosphere must come to terms with defensive and often aggressive. When the caregiver is alien to a normal patient, it would be seen as an intruder or a threat against which seek to defend by attacking. Often, to escape from an environment that has become alien, flees. In most cases will go in search of his house that was a long time and that is usually the home of childhood.

When the caregiver is a family, the tensions that existed in the past implicitly or explicitly tend to worsen. The relative who does not accept the disease and can not explain the sudden hostility of the patient will seek to do this thinking, without realizing that he now belongs to a very different reality of his own. Or you let go of irritation reactions and sometimes frustration. A son or a daughter reluctantly accept the partial or total loss of their independence and sometimes react with impatience to forgetfulness, the grueling repetition of the patient or to acts of almost once a provocation. Old grudges do not disappear with the onset of the disease but are widening, and the past misunderstandings between mother and daughter or between father and son wake up, making the neighborhood difficult to bear. Both the caregiver that the patient will suffer, the latter being even more strongly the weight dell'accudimento and its isolation.

E 'therefore essential that the whole family take action, are also joining forces and participating in the care of the patient and understand that their is a global commitment, in which every member has a specific role to play. E 'is also critical that conscious of the negative effects of the disease on the behavior of their family, and that takes the necessary distance from the disease, to maintain its objectivity and balance their mental attitude is not always easy and often at the limit of endurance. However, the awareness and knowledge on how the disease may become a factor of harmony and elements of strengthening of the family. The patient will feel supported, then at any time of day, and can buy and keep the peace so valuable and so essential to an intuitive management of the disease.