U
Unregistered
Technically not mental health but hopefully some of you will have some experience.
Mother-in-law has been showing signs of dementia - we finally got her to go to the doctor, but apparently she passed memory tests with flying colours, and she was very indignant and resentful. Reached a new level today when she just seemed to get paranoid about a perfectly ordinary situation involving me and my brother, got very angry at me and hit me twice, the second being a bloody good right hook to the face (ok, it was an open hand, but quite a slap!).
I remained calm. Told her it's not right to hit people. Her main anger seemed to be about me, and especially my brother, being bone idle and leaving her to do all the skivvying (yes, she did some clearing up)... and my brother being an interfering sod, wanting to be centre of attention. The reality is that we've been working our socks off, looked after her a lot, shown her huge amounts of care, attention and patience. Of course, I know that it's all part of the illness.
So whilst I'll happily take any general advice and shared experience, what I REALLY want advice on is this. Do I confront her (politely but firmly) about her unreasonable behaviour? - It might seem only fair, and there are arguments both ways but I know that if I do confront her, I won't 'win' and she will repeat and repeat her accusations against my brother, and the more she repeats something, the more it will become embedded in her brain. So rather than doing good, I think it likely to do harm to relationships.
Any ideas?
Cheers.
By the way... if I had a pound for every time I was asked tonight "So Russia are the team in red, yes?" I'd be a very rich man!
Mother-in-law has been showing signs of dementia - we finally got her to go to the doctor, but apparently she passed memory tests with flying colours, and she was very indignant and resentful. Reached a new level today when she just seemed to get paranoid about a perfectly ordinary situation involving me and my brother, got very angry at me and hit me twice, the second being a bloody good right hook to the face (ok, it was an open hand, but quite a slap!).
I remained calm. Told her it's not right to hit people. Her main anger seemed to be about me, and especially my brother, being bone idle and leaving her to do all the skivvying (yes, she did some clearing up)... and my brother being an interfering sod, wanting to be centre of attention. The reality is that we've been working our socks off, looked after her a lot, shown her huge amounts of care, attention and patience. Of course, I know that it's all part of the illness.
So whilst I'll happily take any general advice and shared experience, what I REALLY want advice on is this. Do I confront her (politely but firmly) about her unreasonable behaviour? - It might seem only fair, and there are arguments both ways but I know that if I do confront her, I won't 'win' and she will repeat and repeat her accusations against my brother, and the more she repeats something, the more it will become embedded in her brain. So rather than doing good, I think it likely to do harm to relationships.
Any ideas?
Cheers.
By the way... if I had a pound for every time I was asked tonight "So Russia are the team in red, yes?" I'd be a very rich man!