Depression & Managing Emotions

clarigirl

I am new here and in need of support. My mother is dealing with bouts of depression, and it sticks around for several days to a week at a time. This week has been really hard for her. She is upset, reliving some things that happened earlier last year, and has a different perspective of what happened than reality. The challenge is what she remembers is very different than what actually took place, and I cannot seem to get the reality to "stick".  So she increasingly gets more upset or angry and for things that didn't happen the way she remembers them. 

As her care giver, I recognize that sometimes that blame will be at me but this week I am really struggling because I don't know how to help her get out of this loop of sadness. For the first time I am finding myself sad, frustrated and challenged. She carries a lot of guilt for things in her past, and has for years and years, but would never talk with a therapist to help relieve some of that guilt.  Is therapy even helpful when someone is losing their memory? I'm not sure how to help her right now. 

dayn2nite2

Therapy often isn't helpful in people with memory loss, but antidepressants can help tremendously.

A good geriatric psychiatrist would be best - in the context of dementia, I think prescribing an antidepressant is out of a primary care physician's area of expertise.

mommyandme (m&m)

Welcome to this forum, hopefully you’ll find the support you receive helpful.  I do.  

My mother was fairly depressed after we first moved her near me. I’m her primary caregiver also.  She seemed upset that the new doctors here wouldn’t be able to fix the problems she was having just like before.  I explained moms mood to her PCP who then prescribed Cymbalta which actually helped with some of the pain she had and the depression.  I had to titrate her off when she had “pill burden” and it’s not something that can be crushed. I now wish she was still on it as I think I’m seeing some signs of depression again in late stage 7. 

I hope you find a solution soon for both of you.  So sorry for this journey you’re on.  

clarigirl

Thank you both for responding. She is currently taking an anti depressant and the doctors have increased her dose twice this year already.  We have an appointment coming up in a few weeks and I'll visit with them again.

I need to learn the stages of dementia. I'm not sure where she is currently.  

mommyandme (m&m)

https://www.dementiacarecentral.com/aboutdementia/facts/stages/

This is a list of a few different tests.  Hopefully it can help.