Affirmative Therapy

An increasing number of families have a loved one who is experiencing Alzheimer’s or other form of dementia.  AHHA president, Suzan Walter, lost her Mother to Alzheimer’s many years ago, and she has kept her eyes and ears open to anything that offers families hope for the future. In 2007 she connected with Barbara Derrick, PhD, a clinical psychologist in South Carolina, who had written articles about an Alzheimer’s patient who reversed his symptoms. Suzan arranged for Barbara’s materials about this patient, to be combined into an article, “Overcoming Alzheimer’s: A New Life for Wally” that became part of AHHA’s online collection of Self-Help Articles.

One of AHHA’s members, Barbara Klein-Robuck, MS, RN,  was touched by this AHHA article and moved to bring the program that helped Alzheimer’s patient Wally to southern California. The Klein-Robuck California project was completed in 2008 and Barbara recently provided AHHA with a report.

The original Derrick project involved having dementia patients listen to daily positive affirmation tapes. They experienced marked improvements in their behavior and their level of happiness.  In addition, the caregivers who listened daily to a tape that affirmed their positive and nurturing role with the patients had a significantly lower rate of absenteeism.

The California project, since named AFFIRMATIVE THERAPY, was developed by Barbara Klein-Robuck, MS, RN, HN-BC and Donna McCullough, PhD to follow the Derrick project. This project was conducted at the Del Sol Residential Facility for the Elderly in Mission Viejo, California. Of twenty-three families with loved ones in that facility, thirteen consented to have their family member participate in this project. Barbara and Donna developed two new CDs with positive affirmations, “Affirmative Therapy for Dementia Patients” and “Affirmative Therapy for Caregivers.”  They administered and scored a preliminary Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) on each of the participating residents and held an orientation-training program with the facility’s staff. With the help of the caregiver staff, they identified the specific behavior challenges for each of the participating residents (e.g., yelling, lack of cooperation with grooming or meals). Each of the thirteen participating residents listened to the CD twice a day (once in the morning and once in the evening before bed). A senior staff member recorded observations of the frequency of behavioral challenges for each resident. Three months later, Barbara and Donna administered a follow-up MMSE and reviewed the behavior records.

While the AFFIRMATIVE THERAPY project had an informal structure, this was another opportunity to see if any of the participants showed improvement. By the end of the study, three of the participants had passed away. Of the remaining ten participants, three demonstrated an improved behavior pattern with the remaining seven remaining the same. Equally interesting and encouraging were the follow-up MMSE scores. Four participants actually demonstrated improved scores.  Of those remaining, one score remained the same and five were lower. Imagine the joy of the families of those patients who showed improvement and a higher level of quality of life. Keep in mind that the caregivers listened to a tape that affirmed the importance of their role as caregivers.

For further information about the AFFIRMATIVE THERAPY CDs, contact Barbara Klein-at 949-493-2534 or barbarakr@aol.com