Dad is convinced my mom is leaving him

stephpier

Hello, I am new to the forum. My stepdad has had early-stage Alzheimer’s for several years but now he has suddenly taken a dramatic decline. One of his fixations is that my mom is leaving him, divorcing him, taking the car and kicking him out of the house for another man. We have tried to reassure him many times, but of course logic does not work when patients are in the middle of a bad spell. Often we can live in his world as they say, for example saying that the police took care of the burglars he is constantly sure are trying to get us. But we are unable to follow his “divorce” train of thought because of course it is not true. Mom give him hugs, tries to lie quietly with him together in their room, but nothing works. He cries, is accusatory and aggressive though not dangerous. Would love if anyone had suggestions for dealing with this type of behavior. Of course it breaks my mom’s heart as well.

M1

Welcome to the forum. You are right that reasoning will not work. Medication is your best bet for toning down the delusions and anxiety. Atypical antipsychotics like Seroquel and risperidone, along with ssri drugs for anxiety like citalopram and sertraline, can help a lot. Sorry you are going through this, it's unpleasant for everyone including him.

mabelgirl

oh your poor mother, a double whammy for her. If he is not already on medications they may help him some. I don’t think it alleviates these delusions all together but it did help my mom tamper hers down some and lessen the agitation and aggressive behavior. Prayers for patience and relief.