Rethinking Communication guide to advanced dementia

15 in the press of terrifying physical and mental abuse occurring in some dementia care homes. However, marginalisation does not come only in extreme form. It can come simply through misunderstanding what a person’s behaviour means: through anxiety, through a lack of curiosity and even just through a lack of time. Kitwood viewed negative attitudes as ‘personal detractors’. He saw them as major obstacles to people with dementia being treated as human beings. This unintentional treatment is happening in care facilities all over the world. How can that be? Why is it, after nearly 30 years of compassionate thinking in the research field of dementia, that those with a diagnosis are still misunderstood and disregarded in homes where many people are genuinely trying to provide care to them? In order to help us answer that question, we need to take a step back and look at what this neurological condition actually is and why some people react the way they do towards those who are diagnosed with this illness.