Special Episode: Five Things “The Father” Teaches Us About Alzheimer’s Disease

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Welcome to This is Getting Old: Moving Towards an Age-Friendly World, I’m your host Melissa Batchelor, and today I’ll be talking about</span> <strong><em>Five Things “The Father” Teaches Us About Alzheimer’s Disease</em></strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A friend of mine recently reached out and asked me if I’d seen “The Father” yet with Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman - Anthony Hopkins won the Oscar for Actor in a Leading Role. I have to say, I agree with this win. The movie plot is a daughter trying to provide care for her father who is living with progressive memory loss – so some form of dementia.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here are some things about what this film can teach us about providing care to a person living with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia and you can learn more by checking out my podcast “What are the Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease; Part I” where I talk about the common symptoms or difficulties you will see in the Early- and Middle-Stages of the disease. </span></p> <p><strong>#1: Misplacing or Hiding Valuable or Commonly Used Items </strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The father has several places around the house where he hides his watch and other valuable items. The caregivers know his hiding places and are able to redirect him to finding his watch that he accuses others of stealing. He’s suspicious and is fixated on his watch. You never know what someone will fixate on or why that object becomes so important to them, but rather than getting upset about it, you’re better off to address the underlying emotion being shared at the time – whether it anxiety or worry – rather than getting into a fight with them about how they are wrong.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>#2: Mood swings when confronted with a mentally or socially challenging situation</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The father has angry, explosive outbursts with his caregivers – in fact, he’s run 3 of them off in the f