How easy is it to make new friends ( of even sustain old friendships) when your memory starts to play-up? It's not easy at all when you can't remember someone or what they might have told you about themselves in recent exchanges. Effective and mutually enjoyable communication tends to depend upon shared exchanges of information and observations. Memory loss removes the all important 'recall-tool' which oils the wheels of communication. As friends, we listen, respond and share interest in each other. Not surprisingly as your memory diminishes so can your world and your contacts.
We might assume an individual is unfriendly or self centred because we don't understand what difficulties s/he is facing. It requires patience to communicate with someone who is losing touch with the here and now. It's worth discovering topics from the past which the person can enjoy recalling. We need to step into the world and time which makes them happy. Prompts, in the form of statements, are preferable to questions which can increase anxiety. Provide opportunities for them to talk about what they can remember. For short periods of time we need to forego our inclination to transmit and move into receivor mode.
How can we help sustain the socialisation of people losing their memory?
