What is dementia?

In Latin ‘means’ means only ‘mind, while ‘de’ means ‘from’. Therefore dementia must mean a loss of mental competence, without reference to causation or consequence.

The process of dementia is that it is a progressive syndrome; syndrome become more marked and impact more and more on the individual’s life, eventually pervading all areas.

Thought and judgment are adversely influenced, in large part because the memory of the patient does not function adequately.

Symptoms include problems with thinking, impairment of memory, orientation, comprehension, calculation and learning capacity, language and judgment difficulties and changes in behavior.

The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. People with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias gradually lose their sense of time and place.

A major symptom is that they forget things that they have just said or done, although their memory for past events may for a time remain clear.

Dementia, is always a ‘probably’ diagnosis. Sometimes pathologist are puzzled by the fact that that some people which have apparently functioned quite normally for their entire lives are found, during autopsy, to have the same brain abnormality as that found in people with dementia.

Patients in the early stages of the condition might be aware of their declining memory and functional ability and this can cause distress anxiety or depression. However, this awareness is typically lost as the disease progresses, leading to a denial of the problem and frequently, refusal of offers of helps.
What is dementia?