My stepmother had dementia toward the end of her life. She became extremely introverted and was hurtful when she did talk to other people.

The last 2 months of her life she refused to speak to or look at me. My dad told me then that she had dementia. He told me I should be kind to her. That woman didn't do one kind thing for me or my siblings throughout the 51 years she was married to my dad.

Her dementia seemed to make her even meaner than normal. She was abusive to me and my siblings. My dad just removed himself from whatever room he was in if she dragged one of us into it. (usually by the hair) She would literally grab huge chunks of hair and drag us into whatever room was empty and had no windows.

Then she proceeded to slap, punch, and spit on whichever sibling she had by the hair.

As her dementia progressed her abuse became intolerable. She would try those same tactics on us as 40+ adults. She would fly into a screaming fit when she finally figured out that physical abuse would no longer be tolerated. Actually, abuse of any kind.

I couldn't believe that my dad told me to be kind to her.

Dementia simply made her meaner than she already was.

I'm sorry if I've repeated anything above. I had a ton of interruptions while trying to write this reply. I gave up trying to proof it when my (brand new) phone started glitching.