The ability of the person you care for to perceive, think and understand can be affected by dementia. A quiet, loving person may begin to swear when upset, or insult family and friends for no obvious reason. Even when you know that these behaviours are symptomatic of the illness, life can be extremely difficult if the person you care for is verbally abusing you, or acting out in public. The person you care for may begin to make hurtful or mean comments towards others or use profanities regularly. These outbursts may be a way to express the frustration they are feeling towards others who misunderstand them and their resentment of the loss of their independence. Sometimes these feelings may escalate to physical aggression, usually towards the caregiver. The person you care for may not know how to dress or act appropriately for the situation. For example, they may laugh at a funeral or talk during a movie. As the disease progresses, many people lose their inhibition Inhibition
The ability to restrain one's behavior and actions., misunderstand situations or have increasing memory Memory
The ability to process information that requires attention, storage, and retrieval. loss. These can result in inappropriate sexual behaviour. For example, the person might appear naked in public or make sexual advances to strangers, or shoplift.

In Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease
A neurological disease that affects memory and behaviour. It is characterized by beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. There is no known cause but genetics and lifestyle are thought to play a role. inappropriate behaviour usually happens later in teh course of the dementia, at the moderate to severe stage. (The exception to this is irritability, which is often seen early, as in some "coarsening" of behaviour. By coarsening, is meant that the behaviour is not entirely atypical Atypical
Abnormal or unusal., but usually only done with family or people close to them.)

Given that frontotemporal dementia Frontotemporal dementia
A type of dementia that mainly affects the frontal lobe causing a problem in executive function tasks. especially affects the part of the brain that handles social behavior, insight and social appropriateness, these become affected early in this illness. People with frontotemporal dementia typically have problems recognizing what is socially acceptable. They find it difficult - or more accurately, they see no need - to adjust their behavior to fit the circumstance. Often families will state that the person is no longer him/herself. A quiet person may begin to use language that is considered foul or sexually suggestive. They may lose their inhibitions and make inappropriate comments or jokes in public. This behavior is most embarrassing to the care provider who knows that the person would not normally say these things. The person with frontotemporal dementia is unaware that they are saying/doing anything inappropriate.

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