At its extreme, dementia can cause the patient to say and do things that were once unimaginable for that person. When the patient threatens violence (“I’m going to kill you”) or becomes violent (“assault”), the family has to take action. It’s one of those things that is easy to say. The hard part is doing it.
Family caregivers often endure dangerous and sometimes abusive situations because of love and devotion; especially a caregiving spouse. They soldier on hoping it will go away or at least get better. After all, they pledged “for better or worse.”
The adult children will become involved at some point because the parent caregiver will have to reach out for support. It is very typical for the caregiver to deny that calling the police or going to the emergency room for psychiatric help is necessary. But sometimes such action is the only reasonable, correct thing to do.
Acting out violently or threatening to hurt another person should not be ignored. Sometimes, adult children must intervene and get help from the police or the emergency room. Even over the protestations of their caregiving parent. Denial is sometimes deadly.
