A caregiver looking at a person with (advanced) dementia can easily conclude that it is impossible to motivate them to do tasks that are “easy” (washing dishes, taking the garbage to the recycling bin, calling and making their own doctor appointment, or cleaning out the garage).

Motivation from the standpoint of the person with dementia such as myself is a much more complicated phenomenon. If you don’t have dementia you may not see it the way I do. Most people who have dementia will not articulate these issues in the way that I do (I have had 30+ years as a psychologist and this medical-psychological language is natural to me). I am convinced, however, that most people with dementia feel some of the things that I describe below. I not that I object to cleaning the garage but rather that in order to clean the garage I have to overcome dozens of fears and anxieties and find different ways to do simple things because I can no longer remember the order of the steps needed to do what seem to be simple tasks.

Please click on the mind map to expand its size.