If someone is waiting for a mother who died decades ago, validation responds to the longing rather than announcing the death again. The aim is to reduce distress, not to deceive.
It sits alongside redirection and is the basis of most dementia communication training.
Why it matters
It gives families permission to stop correcting, which is usually a relief to everyone.
Questions people ask
What is validation therapy for dementia?
Validation therapy is a way of communicating with a person with dementia that accepts their reality and responds to their feelings instead of correcting confused statements. A 2017 review in Missouri Medicine describes it as focusing less on what is factually correct and more on validating the person's feelings, on the view that confusion can be a way of coping with stress, boredom or loneliness.
Who developed validation therapy for dementia?
Validation therapy is credited to Naomi Feil, who first described her approach in the 1960s. A 2025 study in The Gerontologist traces it to Feil's 1967 paper on group therapy in a home for the aged, and explains that validation arose after reality orientation, which tries to correct a person's confusion about time and place, proved unsuccessful. It promotes accepting the person's reality rather than reorienting them.
What is the difference between validation therapy and reality orientation?
Reality orientation tries to correct confusion by reminding the person of the time, place and situation, while validation therapy accepts the person's reality and responds to their emotions. A 2025 study in The Gerontologist notes critics argue corrections are likely forgotten and may trigger distress, and cites a meta-analysis finding reality orientation had a moderate effect on thinking but no benefit for behavior or depressive symptoms.
What are validation therapy techniques?
Validation techniques center on joining the person where they are instead of correcting them. The Alzheimer's Association advises staying calm, giving brief explanations, offering corrections only as gentle suggestions, and traveling with the person to where they are in time: if their memory is focused on an earlier period of life, talk with them about it with the understanding that this is their current reality.
How does validation therapy help with dementia?
Validation therapy may ease stress and reduce difficult behavior, though the research behind it is limited. A 2017 review in Missouri Medicine reports it has been found to alleviate stress, promote contentment and decrease behavioral disturbances, with the benefit possibly limited to mild to moderate dementia. A Cochrane review of three randomized trials, cited in a 2025 study in The Gerontologist, was inconclusive.
Sources
Where to check this, and where to read more. All external and all authoritative.
- Alzheimer's Association: Communication and Alzheimer's
- National Institute on Aging: Communicating with someone who has Alzheimer's
- Non-pharmacologic interventions for persons with dementia, Missouri Medicine 2017 (PMC)
- Differing realities among assisted living residents with dementia, The Gerontologist 2025 (PMC)
Validation where you live
The local guide on this, for each city we cover.
- Baltimore, MD
- Boston, MA
- Buffalo, NY
- Charlotte, NC
- Chicago, IL
- Columbus, OH
- Dallas, TX
- Denver, CO
- Detroit, MI
- Houston, TX
- Los Angeles, CA
- Memphis, TN
- Miami, FL
- Milwaukee, WI
- Naples, FL
- New York, NY
- Philadelphia, PA
- Phoenix, AZ
- San Antonio, TX
- San Diego, CA
- Seattle, WA
- Tampa, FL
- Tucson, AZ