Narrative therapeutic approach in the care for patients with dementia and psychosis

Abstract

Dementia and psychosis can arise from a trauma in patients’ life history. Behavioral difficulties of the afflicted individual can lead to bad memories triggered by an event or an encounter. Attempts to bring such patients back to reality can destroy their awareness of the self and the world. A narrative therapeutic approach can help them reconstruct their life story and enhance their sense of wellbeing. With dementia, it is necessary to open the book of the afflicted individual’s life at the right page in order to help them get back to reading it in the present. With psychosis, stories must be detached from the personal life history and from reality. An empathetic therapist allows the patient to bypass the obstacles to link their fictional and real life and to recover the necessary minimum of self.awareness.