Is there evidence out there that behavioral strategies do indeed work?

I think distraction is important. Remember that a lot of our patients can’t remember, so what’s very, very upsetting to them at one point is less so at another point. Figure out what the triggers are. Figure out whether maybe one of the new medicines is actually making paranoia worse rather than better. My rule of thumb is: When there’s a sudden behavior change, take a broad look at your loved one. Make sure they don’t have an infection. Make sure that nothing’s changed in the brain.
Interventions help enormously. There’s nothing that works for everyone. Getting the right solution for your loved one may require a lot of your thought and a lot of your hypothesis testing within the home, at the marketplace, in the shopping mall. I find two times out of three, it’s the family that figures this out, not the medical team.