This will help prevent difficult dialogues from popping up out of the blue, which can be emotionally draining-especially for family caregivers who are already spread so thin. Sherlock recommends designating some time to discuss the tough stuff. Dementia patients can’t help repeating themselves, but if a senior has their faculties and still will not stop bringing up wanting to die, then their caregiver should set some boundaries. While it’s healthy to talk to your loved one about their feelings, Sherlock emphasizes that it’s also vital to know when to stop talking about them. Ruminating on thoughts of death and dying isn’t healthy for dementia patients or dementia caregivers, so it’s important to find a solution that helps both of you remain focused on other more positive aspects of life. Acknowledge your loved one’s thoughts and feelings to ensure they feel heard, but then attempt to distract them by changing the subject to something more pleasant or beginning an activity together. In this case, a caregiver should address the issue through validation and redirection. To make matters worse, when a dementia patient wants to die, their memory loss may cause them to repeatedly verbalize this wish. If your loved one is living with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia, they may not fully understand these questions or be able to respond to them. Queries like, “Why do you feel that way?” and “What would you like to be different?” can help a senior focus on the facts of a situation instead of getting caught up in their feelings of pain and powerlessness.
If your loved one keeps expressing that their life is no longer worth living or that they would be better off dead, Sherlock suggests asking questions to get them thinking about ways they might be able to better cope with the aging process. Help them cope with their emotions.Sherlock says that the painful emotions surrounding the topic of death can sometimes make caregivers “allergic” to having honest, open dialogues with their care recipients.She offers the following advice for caregivers who are dealing with this difficult situation. Meg Sherlock, RN, MA, PMHCNS-BC, an advanced practice psychiatric nurse, has years of academic and first-hand experience in depression screening, suicide prevention, home health care and behavioral health care services for older adults.
Im so lonely i want to due how to#
How to Respond to a Patient Who Wants to Die Whether saying they are “ready to die” is an indication of pain and suffering, or they just want to talk about the physical and emotional toll of aging, it’s important to take this cue as an opportunity to encourage discussions about quality of life and worries about the future. Expressing the desire to join a lost loved one may indicate that a senior feels their life is complete. Even those who do not have a life-threatening disease or psychiatric condition face age-related changes and life losses.
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