Most Common Weird Things Dementia Patients Do | Behavior & Personality
One of the hardest things about watching a parent or grandparent deal with dementia isn't the memory loss. Rather, it is the bizarre behavior that comes with it. It’s the weird new routines popping up out of nowhere, the accusations that leave everyone in the room feeling awkward, and even saying things so out of character that it leaves you speechless. These weird things dementia patients do shouldn’t be taken at face value. There’s more to it than meet the eye, a whole lot in fact.
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Months before the memory loss becomes really obvious, dementia personality changes are the first signs that tend to show up initially. Research on Alzheimer's patients and similar dementias found that people with the condition tend to become more neurotic, less reliable, less cooperative and less open to trying new things. A senior who’s usually easy-going can suddenly become locked in and rigid, while someone who’s usually warm and sociable can become cold and withdrawn.
A 2024 Alzheimer's Association report found that an estimated 6.9 million adults over 65 in the US are living with Alzheimer's disease. The condition has been shown to cause all sorts of changes to the person's cognitive abilities, their personality, as well as their behavioral patterns. Families often say this phase feels like grieving someone who's still alive. The dementia behavior and personality changes they see in their loved ones just don't match the person they knew, and that's a really painful pill to swallow.
7 Most Common Weird Things Dementia Patients Do
Let’s take a closer look at some unusual dementia behaviors explained by multiple studies and clinical experience:
Accusing family members of stealing: This is the most common and damaging strange behaviors in dementia patients. The senior can’t find their glasses or their wallet. Their mind invents a lie to fill in the blank: someone stole them.
Hoarding and hiding objects: Seniors with dementia love to hide valuables in weird places and then can’t recall hiding them. Food, money, underwear and toys all get shoved behind the couch or jammed in a dresser or bundled up in a beach towel. They do it because they feel insecure and want to defend what feels valuable.
Repetitive questions and statements: Stubbornness is not why they keep asking the same questions several times within a span of a few minutes. It’s because their short-term memory can’t seem to retain the answer, so it keeps going back to the same question over and over as if it’s the first time it’s being asked. It’s infuriating to the caregiver, but the senior has no awareness of repetition whatsoever.
Sundowning: Sundowning is one of the weird things dementia patients do that catches families totally by surprise if they weren’t warned about it. Seniors with dementia tend to get much more confused, restless and agitated in the late afternoon and evening. Scientists believe that both a disruption to their circadian rhythm and exhaustion from a day’s worth of thinking play key roles here.
Hallucinations in dementia patients: Hallucinations, seeing or hearing things that aren’t present, is a known symptom, especially in Lewy body dementia and late-stage Alzheimer’s. As per the Alzheimer’s Association 2024 Facts and Figures report, seniors with Alzheimer’s dementia can experience mood, personality, or behavioral changes. Wandering being one of such behaviors.
Inappropriate social behavior: Frontotemporal dementia in particular impairs the brain’s social filter. Seniors can belligerently make sexually inappropriate comments, strip in public, or utter things that are deeply hurtful to those around them.
Eating non-food items: Pica, a disorder in which patients consume non-edible items, is yet another behavior displayed by a small subset of dementia patients, notably those with frontotemporal dementia. It exhibits the brain’s loss of discernment about what is and isn’t safe to ingest, and it’s a major safety hazard that we need to closely watch.
How to Deal With an Angry Senior With Dementia
Aggression in dementia patients rattles families to their core, especially when it’s directed at those providing the closest care. The research is clear that aggression in Alzheimer’s patients occurs at about a 28% rate in population-based studies, and that it escalates with disease progression. Full guidance on communication, de-escalation, identifying triggers, among other valuable tips, is covered in the post: How to Deal with an Angry Parent with Dementia.
But here’s a short version: stay physically calm, validate their emotion without reinforcing the narrative, redirect their attention to something familiar, and never ever argue with the belief the senior is expressing.
Visiting Angels Provides Dementia Care Services for Loudoun County Families
Managing dementia behavior and personality changes at home with no professional help can be a crushing burden. Specialized Dementia Care Services in Loudoun County by Visiting Angels Leesburg, VA, is the professional helping hand you need. Our caregivers are trained in behavioral de-escalation, routines, safe wandering prevention and being the consistent, calming presence dementia patients respond to best. Each care plan is focused around your senior’s present behavior and adjusted as the disease progresses.
The weird things dementia patients do aren’t personal. They are neurological symptoms. That said, knowing this doesn’t make dealing with this new reality any easier. Call Visiting Angels today for expert assistance at 571-258-0111 or click here to schedule your FREE in-home consultation.