People living with dementia can cause significant distress for their caregivers by exhibiting strange or difficult behavior. This could take the form of repetitive questions (“When am I going home?”), delusional thoughts (“I have to take care of the baby!”), exit-seeking, agitation, verbal aggression, or physical aggression can all appear. These behaviors can seem random and unmanageable.

We’re often told to redirect our loved ones to another activity to distract them from their behavior, but this runs the risk of passing over the real emotion they are expressi…