Fond nostalgia helps treat dementia

The manager of a care home in Marlborough, Wiltshire has devised a groundbreaking way to calm dementia patients. Sue Linsley has set up a "Time Warp room" with a typical 1950s look featuring items such as a gramophone, wireless, Bakelite furniture and an old, black typwriter!

According to the Sun, Sue Linsley said: "The Reminiscence Room plays an important role in reducing the use of medication — it's very, very effective."

She explained: "The aim of the room is to help dementia sufferers tap more easily into memories from their past, triggering more memories that can give them a grounding when they may be confused.

"The gramophone, the Bakelite telephone — the residents can remember these things.

"They evoke memories of happy times of bringing up children and it provokes conversation about the past.

"Our clients can come in and it calms them down. This unit proves that you don't need to use anti-psychotics all the time.

"It's a working room, not just for show. The staff use it as an integral part of their care."

The room contains some interesting items including an old Hoover, three flying ducks and an old pram along with a 1950s office enhanced by a series of black and white photographs of the era.

Such techniques are invaluable assets in reducing the use of anti-psychotic drugs according to recent government advice.

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