BBAUM

"The individual has never with another person to do without holding parts of his life in his hand"

K.E. Løgstrup

Background

As dementia generates nine out of ten patients develops behavioral or psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, apathy, hallucinations, physical/verbal/sexual hyperactivity, physical/verbal aggression, sleeping problems etcetera. These symptoms are often treated with drugs, but sometimes the drugs aren’t sufficient to calm the symptoms which can cause great problems for the person with dementia and for the surroundings. The calming treatment BBAUM was developed in 2008 specifically to reduce behavioral and psychiatric symptoms in people with moderate to severe dementia.

Purpose

BBAUM was developed from a clinical need of having a treatment to calm a person with severe dementia and an extremely restless and aggressive behavior besides severe psychiatric symptoms.

Methods

BBAUM is developed from BBAT. The BBAUM concept consists of an examination, a calming treatment and a self-development proces for the therapist/caregivers.

The examination is usually nonverbal and the causes of the symptoms are found by analyzing the person's bodylanguage and movements, the needs expressed through the person’s behavior, the person’s life story, the person in relation to himself and in relation to other people, the person in relation to the physical context and the person in relation to his current life content.

The calming treatment consists of deep pressure massage and gentle facilitatin. The therapist works with the vertical axis, center, respiration, body boundaries and the feet. The person receives daily treatment(s) for about three-four weeks. After that period the person’s behavior is changed to an acceptable level. To maintain the effect the daily treatment continues in a smaller scale. The treatment can also be used preventively. The effect is evaluated through observations and a 24 hours behavioral registration. BBAUM has shown to be so effectually that it’s now used as a calming treatment in many nursing homes in Denmark.

In the self-development proces the therapist/caregivers  increase their mentally presence, their ability to communicate non-verbally and their awareness and  reflection of themselves, but also on behalf  the person with dementia.

Results

The experiences show that the person’s body tonus reduces and the balance improves. The respiration and the digestion become better functioning. Mentally the person appears more happy and relaxed as the anxiety, sadness, frustration, anger or apathy is reduced and the person's brain function improves to some extent. The person’s sleep quality increases and the person gets more energy. It becomes easier for the person to perform daily living activities as the hyperactive, aggressive or apathetic behavior is reduced. The person’s ability to cooperate with the caregivers and be together with other people without having negative reactions increases. Overall the person and the neighbors get a higher quality of life, the caregivers get a better working environment and the organization gets a better cost-benefit.