Who’s the best real-life example of “you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” and what happened?

[u/DrCompenomics]

[u/Wilgrove]

Huh, that's kinda weird. It always seems like people tend to become more aggressive and hostile as dementia progresses. Yet with Fred Phelps, the opposite happened.

[u/Ibroketheinterweb → u/Wilgrove]

When you spend your life being that hateful the only way you can go with dementia is up it seems.

[u/NonsensicalAesthetic → u/Ibroketheinterweb]

Donald J. Trump has entered the chat

[u/GrimDallows → u/Wilgrove]

Not necesarily. I am not a doctor, but the way I have seen cognitive decline is not exactly like that.

A family member used to work with old people, and she used to say people turn more selfish. Not -evil- kind of selfish; just more defensive of their things and fearful of matters of health.

It is something like, cognitive decline is more like a devolution, it makes you more like a kid. Some people who were very nasty in life become very tame because they can't recall most of their social grudges. Others turn into spoiled kids: they lack patience, have a shorter attention span, become more focused and prioritizing on stuff that keeps them entertained.

I have seen multiple different cases and each one is very complex. A case I remember, the person got nastier because he couldn't process most modern stuff/TV shows on TV other than some movies old he liked, but would become completely tame when listening to music; -any- form of music, as long as it was an instrument that he liked, because he did not care about not understanding the words the singing guy was saying.

[u/hamster-on-popsicle → u/GrimDallows]

That's very interesting, I honestly understand the last guy, too much cut, they barely present the characters now and most movie are too damn dark.

Even with dementia my grandma stayed as nice as she always was, I don't know what it said about her life.

[u/BLT_Trade_r → u/Wilgrove]

People can be complex like that. Another scenario is just that he was a lying, manipulative lawyer who chased whatever fame he could, and no one actually knows if he has any convictions. When the civil rights fame dried up, he flipped over to religion. Maybe he just always needed to be in the spotlight no matter what. Then, in old age, he just didn't care anymore.

[u/Cautious_Clothes_285 → u/Wilgrove]

Those are the stories that are more common, yeah.

We've got family going through it and the doctor explained it more that they self-censor less. This doesn't always mean bad things come out. Sometimes people don't express their true selves in negative ways, like a dad not telling his son "i love you" because he thinks that's gay shit or whatever. Some people put on a front to be macho, or seem strong or independent or whatever, and when that front starts to drop the unfiltered version shines through.

On the other hand, sometimes people are fucking dickheads and self-censor because they know their real thoughts, feelings, and opinions are not socially acceptable, and they're the ones who become real assholes as dementia worsens.

[u/No-Examination4896 → u/Wilgrove]

Depends a lot on the type of dementia. Im a med student and the way my neurology attending explained it was that in general youll have lots of cute old happy Alzheimers guys, but people with vascular dementia tend to be aggresive and violent