What Happens in the Afterlife When Someone Dies from Dementia?

Photo by Anne Buiskool on Unsplash

Following on from my articles about sudden death, suicide, and what happens in the afterlife when someone dies young, I wanted to write about something I see many people carrying a lot of grief around, what happens in the afterlife when someone dies from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. I think this type of loss can feel especially painful because people often feel like they lost the person long before the physical death itself happened. Families watch someone slowly lose memories, awareness, recognition, personality traits, and pieces of themselves over time. And I notice one of the biggest fears people carry afterwards is, are they still confused in spirit?, from my own understanding through mediumship, what I’ve personally experienced is no, not in the way people fear.

The Illness Belongs to the Physical Body

One of the things I notice in mediumship sessions involving spirits who had dementia, is that the confusion itself is connected to the physical brain rather than the soul. When someone comes through after leaving this world from dementia or Alzheimer’s, they usually do not present the same way they did near the end of their physical life, they mostly come through far clearer and much more aware.

Mediumship sessions involving a loved one in spirit who had dementia can be incredibly emotional for the people left behind because many of them spent years watching the person they loved slowly disappear behind the illness. But through spirit communication, it feels like them again, their humor has returned, their personality has returned, their awareness, and so has the connection people feared had been lost. In fact, many spirits who left this world with dementia actually come through appearing healthier, calmer, clearer, and far more aware than they were physically able to express near the end of their life.

Their Awareness After Passing

From my experience, many spirits who left this world through dementia seem to regain awareness fairly quickly after entering the afterlife. That does not mean every spirit’s experience is identical, but if there is any confusion initially, it usually does not continue in the same way people fear it will. What mostly comes through instead is clarity of who they are, people they love and even a clarity around the life they lived before the illness. Interestingly, many also seem very aware of how difficult it was for their loved ones here to witness the illness itself.

The Emotional Pain Families Carry

I think dementia grief is an incredibly complicated form of grief because families often begin mourning someone while they are still physically alive. There can be so many emotions involved such as grief, exhaustion, anticipatory grief, guilt and sometimes even relief mixed with sadness after death. I also notice some people who come to me for mediumship sessions feel ashamed for having complicated emotions around their experience caring for a loved one with dementia.

But from what I’ve seen through spirit communication, spirits who passed through dementia do not usually come through angry, blaming, or feeling stuck inside what happened physically. They do seem to understand how difficult it was for everyone involved, and I notice many trying afterwards to reconnect emotionally with the people they love.

Do They Remember Their Loved Ones Again?

This is a question I think many people want to know surrounding dementia, and from my own experience through mediumship, yes, they do. One of the most emotional things about mediumship sessions involving departed loved ones who had dementia is that they often remember details their loved ones here thought were gone forever. They usually reference memories they had before dementia, family connections, relationships that seemed completely lost during the illness, private family moments from their past, and interestingly, sometimes things that were said to them by their loved ones while they had dementia. For many families, I think this becomes healing because it feels like reconnecting with the person before the illness physically took over.

Near Death Experiences

Some people who have had near death experiences that involved meeting with departed loved ones who had dementia often describe them as fully restored. They report seeing them as younger, healthier, mentally clear and completely aware of who the person having the NDE is. This is very similar to what I’ve personally experienced through spirit communication, that the soul itself is not at all limited in the same way the physical body was.

Their Connection to You Still Exists

One thing I notice strongly with spirits who left this world through dementia is that the emotional bond with their loved ones here still feels fully present. Even if the person stopped recognizing family physically near the end, I do not believe the spiritual connection itself can ever disappear. Usually, these spirits seem especially connected to partners, children, caregivers and the people who stayed beside them throughout the illness. Signs after someone passes from dementia can often feel especially strong, I think because they are finally able to reconnect more clearly again.

I think one of the cruelest parts of dementia is how it makes people feel like they are losing someone piece by piece while they are still physically here. But I do not believe the soul itself can ever disappear in the way the illness can make it seem. Most often, when a loved one in spirit who left this world through dementia comes through in a mediumship session, what I think stands out most is recognition of the people they love, their own life and recognition of the connection that still exists between them and their loved ones here. And despite how much the illness may have changed things physically here, I know they are themselves again in the afterlife.