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I'm searching for the Alzheimer's term that would categorize this type of Alzheimer's behavior. I call it "abandonment", but that isn't official Alzheimer's terminology. I once found an article that described what this particular behavior is called, and I lost that article.


His professional caregivers were with him for 9 hours a day. He had reached a point where he didn't want to go outside to walk or exercise, so much of what we did was to sit and watch T.V. programs (or videos/movies) he liked. He also wasn't someone who liked crafts or coloring books, or in-home exercises. He also was uncomfortable doing outdoor workshops, or going to museums, etc. etc, The one thing he liked was music, and his attention span was short, even for music. He was beyond learning new activities. We did have conversations and we knew what he liked to chat about. We did go out to lunch most days, so we could all get out and get a small amount of exercise.


When we read a book, magazine, or studied, while he was watching T.V., he would constantly look over at us to make eye contact. His need for eye contact was as essential to him as air and water. He would hold our gaze while looking into our eyes. We could tell that it was very calming for him to make eye contact. All the caregivers noticed this behavior, including his wife.


More than once, he became violently angry if he perceived that the caregiver was more focused on a magazine than they were on him. Or if we went into an adjoining room for the truly infrequent, important, phone call...he would follow us within 5 minutes and read us the riot act for being on the phone.


Yet he wasn't able to articulate WHY he was angry. His anger was in the form of "acting out"...sometimes to the extreme. Also, his wife's time on the phone was very limited, because he had a low tolerance for anything that took direct attention away from him. He become agitated and then do some acting out as a way to make his need known. It did take a while for the caregivers to piece all this together to figure out the source of his behavior pattern.


What is the diagnostic term for this form of Alzheimer's behavior?

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Are you talking about sundowning? Shadowing? Mutual gaze? Eye contact is very important in caring for those with dementia.
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All I know is this would drive me nuts. My husband and I don't even watch TV in the same room.
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Thanks, everyone. It isn't sundowning or shadowing. Mutual gaze ... I don't think so. But there is a name for it, in official Alzheimer's terminology that isn't any of the previous terms, and hopefully there is a diagnostician online who can shed some light on it.
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