In many cases, senior citizens suffer from mood swings that can lead to angry outbursts. These can happen for a variety of reasons. For instance, if someone has dementia and struggles to remember where they are and what’s going on, they can get frustrated by their own confusion.
When this happens, the first group of people to be targeted are often their caregivers. Proximity just makes it impossible to avoid. The elderly may also have issues like physical pain or lack of sleep that they blame on the caregivers, or they could resent having someone else take care of them when they have been independent for so long.
Experts note that caregivers should never take this personally. They need to remember that they are not the cause of this frustration and anger, and that those feelings may not even be rational. They need to prepare themselves for angry and even abusive behavior.
Unfortunately, not all caregivers are able to handle this high-stress environment. Some of them may start neglecting the patients who give them the most trouble. Others may actually begin to abuse people that they can’t get along with.
This is never acceptable behavior. No matter what an elderly person does or says, a caregiver who is in a position of power has to know how to restrain themselves and refrain from potentially negative behavior. It’s part of the job and resorting to neglect or abuse is illegal.
When it does happen, the families of those who suffer at the hands of these caregivers need to know all of the legal options they have.
