Psychotherapy
Caregiver psychoeducation helps families understand fluctuations and visual hallucinations and respond calmly, alongside cognitive stimulation and support for the person’s mood.
Condition
Lewy Body Dementia
Lewy body dementia has a recognisable pattern, and knowing it can change the care someone receives.
Lewy body dementia affects thinking, attention, movement, sleep and perception. People often have marked ups and downs in alertness, may see things that are not there, and can develop stiffness or slowness similar to Parkinson’s disease.
Because symptoms vary so much from day to day, families can feel confused or doubted. Acting out dreams during sleep can appear years before other symptoms.
There is no cure, but accurate diagnosis matters: people with Lewy body dementia can be very sensitive to some medicines, and the right care can improve comfort, safety and quality of life for the person and their family.
Understand the person. Understand the problem. Find the right path forward.
How it may show up
What Lewy Body Dementia can look like
Everyone’s experience is different. You may recognise some of these, and not others.
Thinking & Alertness
- Fluctuating attention and alertness
- Difficulty with planning and problem-solving
- Trouble judging distances or shapes
Perception
- Seeing people or animals that aren’t there
- Misinterpreting objects
- Suspicion or false beliefs
Movement & Body
- Stiffness, slowness or shuffling
- Falls or unsteadiness
- Dizziness on standing
Sleep & Mood
- Acting out dreams during sleep
- Daytime sleepiness
- Anxiety, low mood or apathy
Understanding the condition
How Lewy body dementia affects daily life
Protein deposits affect brain areas for attention, perception, movement and sleep. That is why symptoms are so varied and can change from hour to hour. Care is tailored to whichever symptoms matter most.
- Brain change
- Varied symptoms
- Daily impact
- Support
Assessment at Psymate
The right treatment begins with the right understanding.
- Presenting symptoms
- Severity
- Duration and course
- Functional impact
- Associated psychiatric symptoms
- Physical and neurological factors
- Sleep
- Substance use
- Previous treatment
- Family history where relevant
- Risk and safety
- Collateral history from family about fluctuations, visions and sleep
- Cognitive testing, including attention and visual-spatial skills
- Neurological examination and review of brain imaging
- Careful medication review, given sensitivity to certain medicines
Start with a conversation
A clinician will take a careful history with you — and, where it helps, with people who know you well — to understand what is happening.
Psychiatry — the clinical core
Psychiatry means more than medication.
Your psychiatrist brings together diagnosis, clinical formulation, treatment selection, coordination of care, measurement and review.
PsychotherapyPharmacotherapyNeuromodulationLifestyle & Sleep InterventionsFamily CareRehabilitation
One person. One clinical plan. Multiple therapeutic modalities.
Treatment
How Lewy Body Dementia is treated
Treatment is planned around you. These are the core approaches your care may draw on.
Explore Psymate Therapy
Pharmacotherapy
Some medicines can help thinking, hallucinations and movement for a time. People with Lewy body dementia can react severely to certain medicines used for hallucinations or agitation, so every prescription needs specialist care, close monitoring and regular review.
Not a routine treatment
Neuromodulation
Brain stimulation is not a routine treatment for Lewy body dementia.
Additional care
Care shaped around this condition
Medication Safety Review
A careful review of all medicines, as people with Lewy body dementia can be highly sensitive to some commonly used drugs.
Caregiver Support
Guidance for families on fluctuations, hallucinations, falls and sleep, with attention to their own wellbeing.
Integrated care pathway
One connected path, from first conversation to lasting change.
- ASSESSA full picture of what you are experiencing
- UNDERSTANDA clear formulation, shared with you
- PERSONALISEA plan built around your goals
- TREATSpecialist diagnosis + Medication safety review + Caregiver support
- MEASUREProgress tracked, not assumed
- REFINECare adjusted as you change
What recovery can look like
Recovery is more than fewer symptoms.
Safety from falls at home
Calmer response to hallucinations
Better sleep
Independence for as long as possible
Caregiver wellbeing
Understanding Lewy body dementia helps families respond with confidence, and careful treatment can bring meaningful comfort and stability.
When to seek help
Consider an assessment when:
- Thinking and alertness vary a lot from day to day
- Seeing things that others don’t, alongside memory or movement changes
- Acting out dreams, shouting or lashing out during sleep
- Symptoms are persistent or keep coming back
- They are causing you significant distress
- They are affecting relationships, work or education
- They are interfering with daily functioning
- They are becoming difficult to control
Urgent help
- Sudden worsening of confusion, stiffness or drowsiness — especially after starting a new medicine
- Immediate risk of suicide
- Serious risk of self-harm
- Severe behavioural disturbance
- Being unable to keep yourself or others safe
- An acute medical or psychiatric emergency
The Psymate promise
What you can expect from us
- You will be heard.
- Your symptoms will be understood in context.
- Your treatment will be planned, not simply prescribed.
- Your progress will be measured.
- Your care will evolve with you.
You are a person before you are a diagnosis.
Begin Care
You don’t need to know what treatment you need before seeking help.
That is what assessment is for.
PSYMATE
Passion for healing meets the power of technology.
Science-led. Human-centred. Connected across the journey.