Why Do People Living with Alzheimer's Want to Go Home?

Do Alzheimer's patients want to go home? Or are they longing for a time and place when they were safe and secure and knew everyone's name and face?My mother repeatedly said she wanted to move back home to a place where she had not lived for over 60 years - South Philadelphia.The sound of her voice, the look on her face, the look of confusion and longing, often made me feel deeply sad.Water is Invisible and Disconcerting to Dementia PatientsBy Bob DeMarcoAlzheimer's Reading RoomListen Now or Continue ReadingSaying I want to go home, to a place from the past,is a common occurrence among the deeply forgetful (people living with Alzheimer's or a related dementia). It happens to most of us.Subscribe to the Alzheimer's Reading RoomEmail:When my mother first started saying, I want to move back to south Philly I really couldn't understand why. But she said this most nights (around 9 PM) for several years. Once I made my way intoCommunicating in Alzheimer's WorldI started asking myself, Why?Why did Dotty want to go back to a place whereshe had not lived since the 1940s.Why?How to talk and communicate with dementia patientsI finally concluded over time that my mother was really looking for thecomfort and security she experienced while living with her parents, and living in asafe secure placesurroundedby people, places, and faces she knew. Family, close relatives, close friends.I understood that Dotty's short term memory was gone.I think this is one of the keys to understandin...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - Category: Neurology Tags: Alzheimer's podcast alzheimers care dementia care dementia help for caregivers family caregiving help alzheimer's help with dementia help with dementia care memory care youtube Source Type: blogs