Sometimes your senior’s doctor or even your own observations could lead you to fear what happens next. This can even lead to denial about the situation and what’s really going on.
Elderly Care in Babylon NY: Being in Denial
Denial Has a Purpose.
Denial can help you to protect yourself from a potentially painful situation. For most people, denial doesn’t last long because the facts of the situation present themselves too strongly to continue to ignore them. That brief period of denial can help you to come to terms with a changing situation or to understand something that is happening. If your senior is unable to do certain tasks on her own, such as getting dressed properly, you might try to convince yourself that everything is actually fine.
Symptoms of Denial.
When you’re in denial, you’re not acknowledging something that is probably quite obvious to other people. The facts don’t matter as much to you, because you’re making your own facts fit the circumstances. You might also be downplaying what’s happening or what could be happening. You might start to feel angry or defensive when people who aren’t in denial try to reason with you.
Mostly Denial Is Harmful.
Even though denial can serve as a temporary buffer, it can become harmful very quickly. If you don’t put the denial aside and start working with actual facts, you might not be getting the help that you or your aging adult need in order to manage a particular situation. You can needlessly prolong situations when you don’t face them directly. In the case of your aging adult, she might be so determined to do things on her own that she hurts herself.
Moving through Denial to the Other Side.
Finally leaving denial behind means that you’re willing to look at solutions to the problem. You might sit your senior down and tell her that she needs to accept help. You might be able to provide some of that help for her, but hiring elderly care providers could be the missing piece. Your senior gets the help that she needs and neither of you are ignoring the situation any longer.
The more that you understand what you’re feeling and why, the more effective you can ultimately be as a family caregiver.
If you or an aging family member are considering professional elderly care in Babylon, NY, please call the caring staff at A Gentle Touch Senior Home and Health Care at 631-647-7622 today.
Comments 1
I never knew denial can be harmful in such a way. I was in denial about so many things in past few years, but I thought one day that the best way to pass the situation is to face it. It was difficult in the beginning but every step prepared me for another one, and become capable of handling a situation that I was afraid I won’t be able to. This is in regards to my caregiving duties. I was a caregiver to my husband and I used this approach to overcome my fears which I was hiding under denial, and the best part is, it allowed me to reap the best of our relationship and to give him the best care I can. Denial is actually the fear of facing something.