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My mom believes people on tv are talking to her personally

ConnieKit: Pose your question to her neurologist.
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Reply to Llamalover47
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My mom thinks this, but with a radio, but there is no radio. Meds have helped a lot.
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Reply to JustAnon
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It might be time for you to control the TV.
Parental control could also help.
If you need to record shows that will not upset her.
Stay away from the nightly or morning news. Same with "talk shows"
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Reply to Grandma1954
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Many news programs promote anger bait. I would take the suggestions of others and monitor the shows she watches to gardening, food, and homes.
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Reply to AMZebbC
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My mom (92, dementia) used to watch the news, but then about 5 weeks ago she talked non stop for hours, about guns, needing to move, etc.

So we stopped all current events shows or news completely. Even programs with violence or anything remotely negative.

She now watches peaceful gardening shows that play back to back that I found on Youtube with no ads. She keeps saying she likes the male host of the show. When people are talking to her, she points at the tv. So hopefully she thinks she is living among the beautiful gardens on the show. Also there are back to back episodes of a travel show on YouTube that used to air on PBS hosted by Rick Steves. That is "safe" to watch, too.
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Reply to DaughterofAD3
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BurntCaregiver Oct 16, 2025
That's nice for your mother. I personally love gardening shows. Cooking shows too. My mother used to be obsessed with cable news. Night and day. All the talk "news" crap shows too which made her negativity even worse.

She started watching cooking shows a few months ago and loves them. She never had any interest in cooking and really was not good at it, but she likes the shows.
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TV and dreams become part of their reality. The brain can no longer differentiate between them. Mom told me Dick Van Dyke, from Diagnosis Murder, wanted to talk to me. Its partbof the Disease, just need to go along with it.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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It happens. Restrict what kind of tv she's allowed to watch. Keep it clean and not scary. Also, don't let her have access to any credit cards so she can't start buying things. Don't let her watch cable news either.
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Reply to BurntCaregiver
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Yes, this happens.
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Reply to Bulldog54321
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When TV became upsetting to mom, we limited her viewing to movie videos - musicals, mostly Elvis movies. She then believed he was talking to her and that she was going to marry him. She loved videos of the Dean Martin Show. Keep what your mom watches light and happy! Most likely that will affect her mood and certainly her view of the world, and she is more likely to be happy too, IMO.
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Reply to Fawnby
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This can happen with dementia. There is little to be done about it. You might, if you are in charge, consider turning off the TV and finding other forms of entertainment for her.
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Reply to AlvaDeer
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BurntCaregiver Oct 15, 2025
Alva,

When a person is old and has dementia, tv is going to be a big part of their life.
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You didn't really ask a question... do you have one?

What you describe is part of dementia, assuming your Mom doesn't have a history of mental illness.

On my elderly Aunt's dementia journey, she too took what was on tv as real -- and most of it disturbed or scared her. We immediately stopped allowing her to watch any news. We then took to playing DVDs of animated movies for her instead: Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks. And even then they couldn't have much scary stuff in them.

If your Mom has never been tested for cognitive and memory impairment, you can request this from her primary doctor on her next exam. It will be helpful if your Mom ever becomes paranoid, negative, depressed, anxious or agitated so that her primary can prescribe medication. Those symptoms are very common in the elderly with dementia.
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Reply to Geaton777
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CaringWifeAZ Oct 29, 2025
I agree with the animated movies!
When my husband first came home after suffering traumatic brain injury as a result of a stroke, he would watch animated movies, which I streamed on Netflix. He liked to watch the same movie over and over again.
The imagery and the simple stories are great for a brain trying hard to understand.
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This is fine unless it becomes frightening to her or makes her believe she needs to buy things. Then the tv viewing may need to be limited or removed
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Reply to Daughterof1930
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