Care Partner Apathy

Neuroscientists have found that apathy happens because of problems in the brain’s motivation pathways. For example, if 100 people have Alzheimer’s disease, about 80% will develop apathy as a symptom. Sometimes apathy happens before memory problems.

What is Apathy?

• A symptom of dementia
• Loss of interest and ability
• Although losing interest may not seem like a behavioural issue; it is, and can be very hard for care partners to cope with
• Apathy is different than depression and the signs can often be mistaken for each other.

How apathy can present:

1. Affective
   1. Emotional blunting
   2. Loss of empathy
   3. indifference
2. Behavioural
   1. Social withdrawal
   2. Loss of self-initiation
   3. Need prompting
   4. Poor persistance
3. Cognitive
   1. Lack of interest in routine or new activities
   2. Difficulty planning and doing activities
   3. Reduced curiosity

How to Help:

• Make One Change at a Time
• Small steps
• Use positive language
• Use incentives but not “if you don’t… you won’t”
• Have others encourage
• Create the right environment
• Be aware of good days and bad days
• Are they just having difficulty with the task?
• Instead of saying, “do you want to?” say, “it is time to…”
• Be flexible on how things can be done
• Pick successful activities, avoid things that overwhelm
• At times, they may respond better to non-family caregivers when it comes to initiating and participating in activities.