The word ‘personality’ comes from the Latin word ‘persona’, meaning ‘mask’. This suggests that personality is the impression we make on others – the ‘mask’ we present to the world.
When we talk about someone’s personality, we are talking about what makes that person different from other people. There are many theories of personality, but most share the basic belief that personality belongs to the individual. These theories suggest personality will play a part in how a person might respond to dementia.
People with dementia tend to retain the essence of their personality, however personality traits may become exaggerated. For example a mild mannered person might appear to be more reserved when affected by dementia. Some people however may show drastic changes to previously recognized personality traits, particularly those people when the dementia affects the frontal lobe.
May, Edwards and Brooker (2009), in their book ‘Enriched Care Planning for People with Dementia’ expand on this idea by advocating for the use of personality profiling for people with dementia in order to enable care to be tailored to their individual needs. For example, if you are able to identify a person who has the personality trait of shyness and is more likely to withdraw and a person who is more extrovert in their personality who is more likely to respond by confronting the situation, care plans can be constructed to work with the strengths of individuals with dementia.
Quiet, shy ………………………………………………………… Loud, extrovert
Circumstance and environment may cause you to re-consider where your ‘X’ goes at different times in your life but generally most people have their own individual response to strong emotions based on their personality traits.
Further learning
For further reading in relation to the importance of personality in care planning for people with dementia the following book is helpful: May, H., Edwards, P. and Brooker, D. (2009) Enriched Care Planning for people with dementia: A Good Practice Guide for Delivering Person-centred Care. Bradford, Bradford Dementia Group Good Practice Guides. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Enriched-Care-Planning-People-Dementia/dp/1843104059
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