Healthy Living

Alzheimer's: How to Care for Someone Who Is Hallucinating

Why Alzheimer's causes hallucinations and delusions

Why Alzheimer's causes hallucinations and delusions

Alzheimer’s and other dementias are diseases of the brain—the same organ we use to measure reality. So, it’s not surprising hallucinations and delusions are so common with the disease. Cognitive loss, like language or reasoning, as well as memory loss both can contribute to hallucinations and delusions. Patience and a small dose of humor often go further than trying to reason someone out of a hallucination; being told our reality is wrong is frightening, especially when your brain can’t figure out why.

As the caregiver for someone with Alzheimer’s, it’s also important to look for root causes other than Alzheimer’s to determine if there is a trigger that can be eliminated or reduced.