Hi, yes I think it’s fine to censor things that upset her. She’s an adult and normally I would say she can see what we see, but her dementia makes it harder for her to control her emotions and her reactions. There’s no point in letting her see things that will upset her, especially because she could see it 10x in a row and be upset again, 10x in a row.
My 81 year old mother has Alzheimer's. She still lives with my 82 year old father. I help him and visit almost daily. She's starting to show more anxiety and fear over some things and becomes VERY emotional over things that remind her of her childhood during WWII under Japanese occupation. Today I wished I would have removed a story that reminded her how she never had the chance to visit her father. She was all choked up, crying and distant Is it ok to remove such reading material?
Rachael Wonderlin is an internationally-recognized dementia care expert and consultant. She has a Master’s in Gerontology and is the author of three published books with Johns Hopkins University Press. Rachael owns Dementia By Day, a dementia care consulting and education company.
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