Can Someone With Alzheimer's Disease Be Talked Into Thinking Or Behaving Better?

Dr. Lyketsos answers the question: 'Teaching Alzheimer's Patients to Behave?'

ByABC News
November 19, 2008, 12:19 PM

May 4, 2009 -- Question: Can someone with Alzheimer's disease be talked into thinking or behaving better?

Answer: Well you might want to remember that someone with Alzheimer's disease can't remember or is having trouble with their behavior because they have brain damage from the disease. As a result, they find it quite difficult to change. So, talking to them or trying to get them to think out of this behavior usually doesn't work.

Besides, if you really wanted to even try and communicate this to them, you'd run into the fact that they forget what you're asking them to do, or that they're having trouble understanding what you're saying to them because they have trouble with understanding spoken language.