Championing ALZHEIMER'S and EMOTIONAL Well-Being

Well-being encompasses identity, connections, security, joy, and self-worth. Alzheimer's patients can still experience well-being, emphasizing feelings over memories.

When you focus on well-being, this includes choosing to focus on what the person with dementia feels rather than what they remember or what they can or cannot do anymore. It means spending a lot more time acknowledging their emotional needs and maximizing their strengths and abilities rather than ruminating about what they've lost.

One way to remind yourself about how to think about well-being is to compare it to looking at a doughnut. When you think about a doughnut, it's round and has a hole in the middle. Sometimes people can get caught up in focusing on the hole (meaning focusing on what's missing or what the person can no longer do), rather than focusing on the doughnut (which is what strengths and abilities are still there.)