Why do people with dementia have unreal thoughts and see or hear things that aren’t there?
People with dementia may not understand the world
around them because of changes in their brain. These misunderstandings are called delusions (unreal thoughts) and hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that are not there).
A delusion is a fixed false belief. For example, the person may hold the false belief of being under threat or harm from the carer. To the person living with dementia the error in thinking is very real, causes fear and may result in distressing self- protective behaviours.
If the person is experiencing a hallucination, they might see or hear things that are not there, for example, people talking in the room.
People with dementia with these ideas need a lot of
understanding and support from the person taking care of them.
