Ep. 358: Rethinking Brain Change with Neuroplasticity in Mind

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Welcome to another edition of the Dementia Care Partner Talk Show. Now, here's dementia care expert Teepa Snow and your host Greg [music] Phelps.

[00:00:13]Hello and welcome to the Dementia Care Partners podcast. My name is Greg Phelps. Joining me as usual is dementia care expert Teepa Snow. And in our last podcast, we talked about some of the possible frustrations of caring for a person living with dementia. Much of what we experience is the can't side of brain >> change.

[00:00:31]How do we go about exploring the can side? Are facilities even spouses aware of the me sheet, which I found to be essential in doing men's groups? If we can't do this, can we do that? Think outside the box.

[00:00:43]What sort of things can we do to get engaged? Yeah. So, this is a really interesting sort of challenge because even the word dementia means loss of self, loss of awareness, loss of loss of thinking, loss of brain. And so, I think unless we're willing to use the words brain change, your brain is changing. So, now my curiosity is up. If it's changing, it's not just losing. Um and and that's essential that we start thinking in the terms of neuroplasticity, not just neurodegeneration.

[00:01:20]Yes, there's degeneration, but there's also plasticity, incredible plasticity.

[00:01:24]So, there's lots of evidence that things are changing, and the question is am I noticing loss or am I noticing change?

[00:01:32]So, if previously, Greg, when we talked, I would say things like, "Hey, Greg, I was wondering, could we go out to lunch today? I was thinking maybe down to somewhere where we can pick out what we want from a like they have a hot bar and a cold bar."

[00:01:48]Um or I mean, we could go to a restaurant if you really want to.

[00:01:53]And now, here's what I give you.

[00:01:56]I say, "Hey, oh hey, sweetheart. I was thinking we could go eat out. Is Is Do you know the the place where we we've we've gone where you get to get to pick?

[00:02:13]You know what I'm talking about? The one where we go?

[00:02:16]I don't have a clue.

[00:02:19]I >> [laughter] >> really don't have a clue.

[00:02:21]>> So that reaction that And that's called a reaction. That reaction that you just had is not helpful to me because it says, "Wow, boy, did you notice my losses?"

[00:02:31]What you didn't show me is that you noticed that I gave you some data. I gave you some information.

[00:02:37]So you could say, "Hey, Teepa, Greg, yeah, and you were wondering about going out to lunch. And you're thinking about going somewhere where we've been before.

[00:02:50]And you get to pick some of what you want like with a menu or something else.

[00:02:56]So But what that requires is I got to become skillful at this and realize, "Wow, okay, he has changed.

[00:03:04]I don't know how much he can give me until I structure this in a way that I can figure out what he has left and how I can start to use that. But if I don't offer support, all it is is, "Wow, he can't do that. Wow, look at that. That's sad.

[00:03:19]Oh man, he can't come up with the name of the place we've always eaten."

[00:03:23]Ouch.

[00:03:26]I'm going back to one of our earlier podcasts. Uh-huh. There's a word in there that we said forgiving and I think sometimes you have to forgive yourself as a care partner Uh-huh.

[00:03:37]even with all of your skills and all of the pack people with their skills, you don't get 100% all the time. Do you hit a home run every time you step up to the plate? Of course not.

[00:03:50]Heavens to Betsy. No, I've struck out a few times. I've hit some balls. I accidentally hit one into the stands and it was like back behind where I was supposed to be hitting. It's like, "Oh, that wasn't even who I was talking to.

[00:04:02]Hey there."

[00:04:03]>> [laughter] >> So, I think, you know, being willing to make mistakes and learn from your mistakes is for me essential if you're going to get into this range. And if you don't, it's probably not a good space to be in because you have to acknowledge, [laughter] you know, this isn't going to work all the time. And you got to forgive yourself and say, "Okay, what did I learn?

[00:04:24]What's what's changed for me?" Because I was like, "Oh, well, that didn't happen the way I thought it was going to."

[00:04:29]Are we going to go into I'm a failure or are we going to say, "Huh?

[00:04:34]All right. Well, what are my options now?

[00:04:37]What could I change, in other words, to make this work better for both of us, frankly?"

[00:04:44]If you have questions that you think we should explore on the podcast, please let me know at [email protected]. That's a nice easy one to get me at, but please CC it back to TIPA and the rest of the gang. And if you have subjects you'd like to explore, send us a note.

[00:05:02]The The option that we offer to everybody is that there is some training available. You're not alone in this. It seems like it at times. It seems like you're the loneliest person in the world, but you can talk to somebody. You can actually talk to somebody when you You can talk to somebody. You can watch something. You can listen to something.

[00:05:23]However you like to start an interaction, we try to provide those alternatives because we know that people are different and what works you for you may not work for someone else.

[00:05:33]So, we have things on YouTube. We have things on Oh, what is the What are some of the other ones? On LinkedIn. We have things on Facebook. We have things on our website. We have videos. We have books. We have blogs, we have podcasts.

[00:05:50]Why? Because each of you is unique. And if you don't find what you're looking for, well, ask because sometimes it's hard to find what you're looking for when you're in the middle of stuff. So, do that phone call, do that text, do that email cuz we'll answer.

[00:06:09]Teepa, thank you very much.

[00:06:11]Thank you, Greg.

[00:06:12]You've been listening to the Dementia Care Partners Podcast brought to you by Positive Approach to Care. For information on today's program and other dementia-related topics, go to tipasnow.com.