For every case of dementia, mind maps can potentially be used to improve the quality of life of the patient, caregiver, and family. Many people in the later stages of dementia are confused at times, frequently unresponsive, have minimal access to their memory, and can be aggressive and otherwise difficult to deal with. In spite of this, the care of almost every dementia patient, even one at a very late stage dementia, can be improved by mind maps and other visual thinking tools and better care will almost always produce a better quality of life.
Mind maps and other visual thinking methods are better ways to capture, store, manipulate, share, and understand an individual case. Image that. A method that costs pennies per use can improve the efficacy of $200 doctor visits, $20 pills, $3000 emergency room visits, $150 of home healthcare, and $1000 consultations because at the end of all the fancy stuff, mind mapping is an intuitive, easily understood method of communicating among and coordinating among the many parties that collectively are the care system for an individual person with dementia. No, simple mind maps will not substitute for medical treatments, but they can make the individual healthcare system developed for a person with dementia more efficient and help cut service redundancies and unneeded tests and treatments resulting from poor patient-doctor-family communications.
Among other ways, mind mapping and other visual thinking methods can be used even with patients with advanced stages of dementia. While people in advanced stages might be limited in their ability to draw maps, they may be still quite skilled in reading them and picking up on associations. Whether or not patients with dementia can draw (or even read) mind maps at the end, caregivers, doctors, nurses, families, and others may use these visual methods of communication to easily share information among themselves. If the patient has created a “pre-dementia” set of diagrams for her or his life experiences, there will be a useful baseline for healthcare providers to better understand the individual case.
Good communication. Good coordination. Knowing the issues. Applying the best thoughts of all people in the care team (including the family, caregivers, and patient). Using the best treatment methods useful for the individual with dementia. And all because mind maps (compelling visual methods of producing insights into complex issues in a simple way) make communications clearer and more reliable, allow a patient to take part in her or his own treatment, and do so at a low-cost that makes the care team more effective and the patient and family happy about the quality care the patient is receiving.
Sounds almost too good to be true. It isn’t.
Click on the mind model (mind map) shown below to expand its size.
I know that a simple version of the outlined model has worked super well for my (dementia) care. It could also work super well for you or a person with dementia for whom you provide care.