Rioishere, first of all "dementia patients" covers a huge range of cognitive abilities and losses. Almost nothing is true of all dementia patients, and what is true at one point can change at another point in the journey.
Skills for coping with what? Persons with MCI or in very early stage dementia can often be taught ways of coping with memory loss or excessive sleepiness or lack of appetite. If the dementia progresses they may lose those coping skills.
In a way, persons with dementia do come up with coping on their own. They are afraid something valuable will be stolen. (Heaven knows they are experiencing loss!) So they cope by hiding those things. Not a very successful strategy considering they can't remember that they hid these things, but it is an attempt to cope with fears and paranoia.
Rioishere, do you have specific examples or concerns? Maybe we could give more specific responses then.
My uncle took some classes from the Alzheimer's society that helped him understand his diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and strategies to help him remember things like appointments etc., but MCI is very, very early stage and may not progress to dementia at all. There are some good blog posts here on AgingCare that you may find interesting reading, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the link for Patient Perspectives.
Skills for coping with what? Persons with MCI or in very early stage dementia can often be taught ways of coping with memory loss or excessive sleepiness or lack of appetite. If the dementia progresses they may lose those coping skills.
In a way, persons with dementia do come up with coping on their own. They are afraid something valuable will be stolen. (Heaven knows they are experiencing loss!) So they cope by hiding those things. Not a very successful strategy considering they can't remember that they hid these things, but it is an attempt to cope with fears and paranoia.
Rioishere, do you have specific examples or concerns? Maybe we could give more specific responses then.