Neuro Note #1
For my first neuro note I read the article, "Should You Play Along With Dementia Patients' Realities?" by Carol Bradley Bursack. In this article Carol describes how her father suffered a brain injury resulting in dementia (Bursack, 2021). He experiences different delusions that she chooses to support rather than telling him it never happened (Bursack, 2021). I felt this was wonderful of her to do as it was a way to not cause him distress. She was allowing him to engage in his chosen occupations without causing further harm.
I chose to read this article because I have a grandmother that has been diagnosed with dementia and I wanted to know more so I could help her. To further my learning, I researched the different stages of dementia and how to identify each stage. Based on my research, I believe that my grandmother has moderate to moderately severe dementia (stage 4 or 5) (WebMD, 2023).
In our class Neuro Aspects of Occupational Performance we have been talking about different types of cognitive impairments of which dementia is one. Through reading this article I have found that validation therapy is a good and successful intervention method I could possibly use if given the opportunity (Bursack, 2021). I would recommend this article for others as part of their learning process because it helped me to better understand dementia and it gave a potential intervention for me to use as a future OT.
Bursack, C. B. (2021, March 31). Should you play along with dementia patients’ realities? AgingCare. https://www.agingcare.com/articles/playing-along-with-dementia-realities-121365.htm
WebMD Editorial Contributors. (2023, February 8). Dementia: stages, causes, symptoms, and treatments. WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/types-dementia
