
FAQ
After a diagnosis of rare or young onset dementia there are many different types of losses that can evoke feelings of sadness and the process of grief. These experiences may be better understood by knowing some of the different types of grief we can experience. For example: ambiguous loss, pre death grief, anticipatory grief and disenfranchised grief.
The long-term nature of rare or young onset dementia requires renegotiating of family boundaries, roles and expectations. These changes can be challenging as individuals begin to take on roles that they may not have expected or that bring up challenging feelings. Managing this type of transition in roles may require:
- Acknowledgement and acceptance of your feelings around the change
- Sharing your experience with family, friends, or people with shared common experiences
- Developing safe coping strategies for when thoughts or feelings arise and are difficult
With these changing roles comes the need to build safe coping strategies that you may not have used before. You may want to build these skills with the help of your health care practitioners, a therapist in your local area, or through the support services of RDS Canada, you may reach out at any time to discuss challenges and our direct support team can help you connect to what you need.