Can Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Help Dementia Patients?

Whilst visiting my nana at the weekend, I saw that her motivation had gone and that she seemed to be finding comfort in doing the same routine everyday – almost as though she has intentionally isolated herself or even institutionalised herself!

It made me think about how I could support my nana better and I thought out cognitive behaviour therapy.

However, is there such as thing as cognitive behavioural therapy for people with dementia?

With Dementia and dementia related illnesses such as MCI, there is a large proportion of patients suffering underlying issues such as anxiety and depression, in fact there is an estimated 50% of patients experiencing some symptoms of depression.

Depression can decrease quality of life, worsen dementia symptoms and increase carer stress.  Anxiety is also common in people with dementia and has a similarly negative impact.  Therefore, can Cognitive Behaviour Therapy help?  And if it can how would it need adapting to ensure the best possible outcome for the patient?

What is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy?

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a widely used psychological therapy. It was initially developed to treat depression in adults without dementia and can be effective in treating both anxiety and depression. 

I believe that in its current form it cannot be used to help people with dementia as it requires thinking and memory abilities that may be affected by the condition.  But that is just my opinion.

Adapting Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

There has been some research into adapting CBT to help those with dementia, but this is still in the early stages.

Dr Stott has already undertaken some preliminary work on this project, including consulting with experts in CBT and people affected by dementia to determine the aims of the project.

Dr Stott aims to better understand the skills that people with dementia need in order to take part in CBT.

I believe that once this study is completed then Dr Stott will conclude that CBT is feasible for people with mild to moderate dementia and clinically significant anxiety.