Inhibition

BPS

I am sure this has been talked about many times and maybe even by me. Does Alzheimers lower inhibitions so they speak more openly about what they do remember about the past, not counting delusions and hallucinations. When they say something are they less guarded, so their true feeling come out. I know they can be afraid of what is going on that they don't understand, but what I am wondering is when they make statements about the past or why they did something years ago is there inhibitions down so they are more open and honest. I know with this diesis nothing is 100% constant but what are your experiences.

Thank you

Quilting brings calm

They lose their social filter as their brain is broken … but you can’t assume that whatever they say is their true honest feeling. Because their brain is broken. They may not mean what they say at all because words don’t mean the same thing to them anymore. So they could tell you their favorite color is blue. But they may say blue and really mean red.
In addition, they mix up memories - what they remember might not be what happened at all - their feelings about it might not be accurate either. That’s called confabulation.

SDianeL

although social filters may decrease, you can’t determine that what they are saying is true. They lose their memories and replace them with delusions, hallucinations and confabulations. They also don’t think rationally anymore and instead of rationalizing they react to situations and anxiety. Much like a toddler.

Biggles

It’s such a baffling and horrible disease, just diverting a little from uninhibited speech, sometimes I kid myself that my DH is quite ok, at home he has his days when he talks, walks and carries on just like he used to and I think he’s ok what’s the problem and then we have a break down, three pairs of undies, shoes on the wrong feet, tv that cant be turned on, a mobile that cant be used, words that don’t make any sense etc etc and I breakdown and cry again and realise that yes there is a whole lot that is wrong.

harshedbuzz

@BPS On one hand, yes, the lack of social filter can lead a PWD to voice their "inside thoughts".

The veracity of those musings may or may not be accurate. Rather than a heartfelt confession, you might be getting utter nonsense.

Confabulation is a common dementia symptom. Conflated memories are when a PWD recalls the basic storyline of an event, but not the details and backfills the -who-what-when-where and how- with other information that could be very plausible. My dad did this a lot. It was subtle at first— he'd confuse something his sister or mine did and ascribe it to me. The were hellions and I was not; to me it felt like rewriting family history. As the disease progressed, they became more confused but often made sense. I recall a story dad told about taking a drive on a warm summer night where he combined details from 3 different states, decades and cars. The emotional content was there and a listener unfamiliar might not notice but I did. As he entered the later stages, his conflated memories were very confused. He claimed mom's knee replacement as his own, a flood that destroyed my house and the plots of mom's crime dramas.

HB