How Memory Loss Affects Family Life

Aging is a difficult process which entails a lot more than silver streaks in your hair. It’s easy to glamorize old age; we compliment people’s graying head or appreciate how well-maintained their figure still is. But only a person sailing in the old boat knows the pain of seeing their once flawless skin exhibit numerous tiny wrinkles.

However, the effects are more far-reaching and damaging than just physical changes. While many of us exclaim in the comfort of our age how great it would be to ‘wipe out old memories’ and start afresh, it’s not until you’re in this problem knee-deep that you realize the gravity of it. Memory loss is not only hazardous for the person undergoing it, but also deeply affects their family life. Your home is just not the same when a senior loved one with minor (or major) dementia is living in it.

Changes in perception of self

Studies have been conducted on senior people above 65 years of age that reveal that memory loss can lead to them forgetting their names or those of close friends and family, misplacing common items, and repeating themselves in conversations.

Even age-normal memory loss has led people to feel upset about their declining mental health, so it’s reasonable to expect serious grievances over major dementia. The embarrassment which stems from losing recollections of personal information challenges people’s self-image. Their self-doubt can easily translate into negative self-evaluations and trigger depressive episodes.

Changes in Work and Other Activities

Challenging work tasks and intellectually-demanding activities become a hassle to process and get through with when a person is dealing with memory loss. Since their cognitive health goes downhill with memory loss, it’s hard to focus all their energy on one task and see it to completion.

This includes projects that require coordination among many members such as high-stake presentations. From the agenda of a meeting to what they were going to say next, elderly employees tend to forget a lot of details.

Even though retirement might save them from the embarrassment of disappointing their team at work, the problem persists at home; the only difference is in the setting.

Changes in Relationships

Have you ever been confronted by a friend who you forgot to wish on their birthday? The wrath of a hurt friend in this context is the kind of feeling that’s perennial for people with memory. This is taxing on the senior loved one as well as their family.

It’s as difficult to live with memory loss as it is to live with someone who’s suffering from it. It might not seem as hard but it’s extremely frustrating to share a roof with someone who can’t recall answers to the most basic questions like where are you and what’s your name. This affects how they sustain connections in their social network (as it’s hard to remember names or their referee) or survive the embarrassment of ruining special family occasions like Christmas dinners.

 

We offer senior loved ones an assisted living community in Beverly Hills, CA that welcomes them in its folds wholeheartedly. Under our care, your loved ones will find family again and we’ll do everything possible to make them feel at home!