Why Dementia Makes Communication Difficult

What goes wrong when we try to communicate with people living with dementia, and how to fix it

A major effect of dementia is its impact on communication. Alison Wray explains why the changes occur and offers practical ideas for avoiding key pitfalls. With attention also to the fraught question of well-intentioned lying, this book offers a wealth of ways to improve conversations and relationships when someone is living with a dementia.

Selected for Reading Well for Dementia 2024: endorsed by health experts, charities and people affected by dementia.

Dementia brings many challenges, not least its ability to disrupt effective communication. The quality of communication plays a major role in how well people living with a dementia manage. When communication doesn't work well, the complications of dementia are compounded.

Rather than only offering tips on what to say and how to say it, this book explores the underlying motivations of communication, so we can better understand why we say what we do, why we say it the way we do, what can go wrong, and how attempts to fix things can go awry.

As well as considering why communication goes wrong in day-to-day conversations, the chapters offer advice on dealing with awkward moments, the question of deception, and the things we can and can't control in dementia. Readers are asked to reflect on their own role, and how they can manage their own behaviours to avoid unintentionally blocking routes to productive communication.

Including clear action points for carers, bystanders and people with a dementia diagnosis, this book shows how to approach communication to improve outcomes.