Therapy for Dementia Research Papers

Therapy is particularly important for the elderly patient as dementia progresses because more serious behavioral problems may begin to appear including loss of impulse control and a loss of sense of time. As brain functions are lost the individual looses the ability to control his or her behavior. Again, the therapy for inappropriate behaviors are relational in nature and require the patience and skills of the primary caregiver including a clam and reassuring tone, giving the patient additional time to process information, distracting the dementia patient from destructive and disruptive behaviors, and providing the individual with physical and emotional support.

Group therapy is suggested for patients with dementia due to the nature of assembly associated in the therapy. Barbara Posthuma in her book, Small Groups in Counseling and Therapy: Process and Leadership, notes that psychologists are turning toward group therapy as a means to help patients because: “From the beginning of time people have congregated in groups to ensure their survival, development and evolution.  The knowledge that there was safety in numbers was a motivating factor in the earliest gatherings of people”.  Posthuma argues that utilizing group therapy is, in many respects, an extension of collective society’s natural instinct to gather into groups.  Because individuals instinctively fell at easy in group settings—especially with those that are similar to them—therapy and counseling in this type of environment can be an extremely effective tool in helping those in distress.  Posthuma does caution, however, that in spite of the natural tendency of human to congregate in groups, successfully carrying out group therapy and counseling requires some degree of skill and competence.

An overview of the available literature begins with a written cross section of nursing care facilities, as reported in in an article.  The information reported indicates that in a National Nursing Home survey (1993), researchers reported that 40-70% of all patients entering nursing care facilities suffered from some type of dementing illness.  In an attempt to improve communication between staff and patients validation therapy has been suggested as a possible solution.  Validation therapy consists of “a number of verbal and non-verbal communication techniques specifically designed to stimulate communication and to tune in to and empathically validate the communications of an elderly person with dementia”.  To date only five studies observing the effects of utilizing this technique in a nursing home facility have been published.  In an attempt to bridge this gap, the researchers have undertaken this project.

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A research paper is an in-depth examination of Therapy for Dementia. More than just an overview of what was learned on Therapy for Dementia, like a term paper is, a research paper contains analysis of Therapy for Dementia along the lines of organizational theory and relevant published material. Research papers are highly analytical and can often be more than 8 to 10 pages. The key to a good research project is the examination of recently published journal articles and peer-reviewed material on the Therapy for Dementia chosen. Like the name implies, research papers are exactly that, a paper that examines the information that can be found on Therapy for Dementia.