The emotional state of the person with dementia has been described as one important factor for the relatives in the decision making process when for example the need for another form of care has arisen. In order to develop interventions that can enhance wellbeing among persons with dementia and their relatives, it is important to understand how they react and adjust to the situation. It is therefore also important to explore the interrelation between the emotional state among people with early/moderate dementia and the caregiver’s experience of burden. The purpose of the study was to investigate mood in people with dementia, living in their ordinary home. Also to study the relation between mood and gender, age, living alone, stage of dementia, functional dependency and receiving support in daily personal care and finally to study the association between family caregivers feeling of burden, self-reported health and mood of the person receiving help. A sample of 64 persons, 34 women and 30 men, with a suspected or diagnosed dementia disease was included in the study and in 58 of the cases also a next of kin participated. The analysis showed that being dependent on help from others with personal care (PADL) and having a moderate dementia was mostly associated with not being confident. The analysis showed a correlation between feeling burdensome and bad self-reported global health, i.e. a next of kin that reported their health to be bad quite often or almost always fell more often burdensome. The findings indicate that having a moderate dementia and receiving help with such as personal hygiene from a next of kin and/or from formal caregivers has a negative impact on mood. The transition from early over to middle stage of dementia thus seems to be crucial. Maybe not only because of the increased cognitive decline but far more, or combined with, the fact that the person becomes dependent of intimate help from others to maintain daily life. The findings from the study contrast to the stress and coping model often used in dementia research in which people with dementia are described as contributing to emotional problems for those helping them. Thus, next of kin’s, helping a person with dementia to maintain their daily living are maybe not only or first of all stressed because of the role as a helper. The feeling of burden seems more related to the own experience of health.