Environmental modification for treatment of agitation in Alzheimer's patients

Agitation in patients with Alzheimer's disease is a common behavior problem in middle stages of the disease. The treatment of agitation at present mos tly focuses on pharmacological intervention. The patients in the two case s tudies presented here showed agitated behavior due to mirror self-mispercep tion. The agitation was measured by Cohen-Mansfield test one week before an d after the intervention. The intervention consisted of covering mirrors ac cessible to the patients, which completely alleviated their agitation. This intervention illustrates the great benefits to be gained by awareness of p ractical solutions to overcome environmental stressors, since the simple no n-pharmcological changes avoided unnecessary medication with attendant prob lems of drug interactions and side effects.