As my family has been on the dementia journey the truth always seemed to create a roadblock for me. It took me months to accept and understand that what my parents said they fully believed was reality. At first I’d argue with it to try to demonstrate just how off their brains were behaving, but it only created conflict and made my mother distrustful and my dad would shut down.
On the other side of this rough road we traveled, I can now listen to and talk with my parents even when they are sharing information that is fictional. Now that my parents are in Assisted Living and I’m not worried about their safety or risk of being taken advantage of, I can just enjoy the time I spend with them. Matured.
To revisit some of my past struggles with this, here are few of my stories:
How I Disarmed my Contentious Demented Mother