Religious Rituals Comforting to Some Alzheimer’s Patients

         According to a recent article in The Journal News, religious rituals are comforting to many Alzheimer’s patients.  They may not always realize the details of the religious service or the meaning of Bible readings, but these seem to bring solace.

Religious leaders were told, at the Westchester (NY) Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, “that people who are losing their identities to dementia can be soothed and healed by religious rituals, old hymns, Bible readings and physical proximity to the faithful.”

I know my mom enjoyed religious services and Bible readings when she lived in the nursing homes.  At the first one, a small home in the town where I live, a minister and his wife visited the residents, read the Bible and conducted singing.  Mother often mentioned this when I stopped to see her.

At the second home (where I moved her when the small one closed), there also were services conducted regularly by a Protestant and Catholic group.  Even when Mother no longer knew in detail what she was attending, I asked the caregivers to take her whenever they could.  She still appeared to enjoy the singing and derive comfort from it.