The India perspective

I am a caregiver of a dementia patient, and I am based in Bangalore, India. One of my concerns is the problems we caregivers face in the Indian context.

In India, dementia is often confused with old age. We don’t have good systems for identifying dementia patients and supporting them and their caregivers. Our cultural setting (joint families, respect for elders), combined with poor awareness of dementia, results in situations where people assume caring for a person exhibiting dementia symptoms is the same as living with a normal, if somewhat stubborn, parent. I have known families where an elder person exhibited behavior typical of dementia but was merely called stubborn and willful. At times, such behavior began after a stroke, and was possibly vascular dementia, but the family did not consult any doctors after the behavior changed – they were ashamed of it.

Through this section, I am trying to provide a set of resources on dementia caregiving as relevant to India. I would value any suggestions you have; please contact me.

For general caregiving material, do refer to the other section, Caregiving for dementia patients, where the topic is discussed in general terms.