Senile dementia: a tragedy for the entire family. The person who suffers from it gradually sees his world crumble and become less and less familiar and more hostile, on the other hand, his loved ones are forced to live with the pain of seeing their loved one suffer, gradually losing their cognitive functions and even one’s independence. Due to the impact that dementia has on the entire family, it is part of family diseases.
Unfortunately, despite a growing awareness of the organic nature of this pathology, the stigma that characterizes it remains, and the consequence is social isolation. It is estimated that as many as 94% of patients are treated at home in middle and lower-income countries. Not infrequently the social and health system is unfortunately not able to support these people. In Italy, the total number of patients with dementia is estimated at over one million (of which around 600,000 with Alzheimer’s dementia) and about 3 million are the people directly or indirectly involved in assisting their loved ones.
Very often they are women, wives, and daughters often with their families, who are home to the sick. The impact of the care burden on them is significant, both in terms of physical and psychological health and changes in work and family life, and often causes great stress and the feeling of not being able to cope with requests for care. Responsibility is a responsibility with the awareness, accepted or not, that the prognosis is unfavorable, and that it will lead to the institutionalization and death of one’s loved one.
The health of the patient and of the caregiver become tied to double delivery. Behavioral problems, mood disorders or psychiatric symptoms, which appear to be very frequent in patients with dementia, are considered determining factors of the burden of the caregiver, which is also very much affected by any depressive and anxious symptoms in the patient. The same constant request for support, typical of these patients, causes distress.
In turn, the mood of caregivers affects the life expectancy of patients with dementia.