Dementia’s most-known symptoms are memory loss and confusion. If an older adult starts placing their house keys in a strange place or getting lost on their way home from church, a relative or friend will likely spot the red flags.
But a lesser-known sign that someone is experiencing cognitive changes is an apparent loss of empathy. Caregivers are often the ones who observe — and are most affected by — these shifts in behavior, said Lauren Fisher, a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing who studies dementia and caregiving.
She recently published a paper examining 16 studies on the emotional experiences of people who care for loved ones with frontotemporal dementia. Empathy loss is common among people with this form of dementia, and because empathy is key to connection, that decline can make caregiving more isolating and fraught.
In this conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, Fisher explains how empathy and dementia are linked. She also discusses why this symptom is less known and how to support caregivers navigating these challenges.
Spotlight PA: Can you give examples of what this loss of empathy might look like among people with dementia?
Fisher: Some families will bring a loved one to our clinic after another family member has died, but the person with dementia had absolutely no emotional response to that loss. Or the person with dementia will have inappropriate responses.
Or generally, people may not emotionally respond in the ways that they used to and that results in a loss of connection. Humans mainly connect through empathy: “I understand how you are feeling, and here, let me feel this with you.”
So it’s not necessarily that their loved one is acting selfishly; it’s that they’re just acting oddly?
Sometimes, it’s very much selfish behavior. They’re putting their own emotions before another person’s. For example, I interviewed a caregiver who had cancer. When she was sharing her diagnosis with her husband, he did not have the emotional response that she thought he would. Instead, he was much more focused on himself in that moment by wanting to know what was for dinner.
Also, one of the studies that I cite in my paper notes that marital infidelity is more common among people with frontotemporal dementia when compared to people with Alzheimer’s disease. This might be because they’re just no longer thinking about their.......
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(Source: https://www.spotlightpa.org/)
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