...Dementia is a progressive condition where the brain begins to die. It may begin with personality change and confusion, but can progress into an inability to perform daily activities and total memory loss. Age is the number one risk factor for this debilitating disease. “Three in 10 people over the age of 85 and almost one in 10 people over 65 have dementia.” (Keast, pg 22) This increases it’s prevalence in the community because people are living longer and the population is growing rapidly. “More than 44 million people world-wide are living with dementia and that figure is tipped to reach 135 million by 2050.”(Keast, Pg 22) Dementia does not receive the amount of attention in health care research and funding that it deserves for being as serious...
Words: 901 - Pages: 4
...Dementia is the progressive decline of memory that affects a person’s ability to perform everyday tasks such as reasoning. Alzheimer’s is when dementia symptoms deteriorate and people lose the ability to carry on conversations and interact with the environment. Some symptoms include memory loss, mental decline, personality changes, as well as anxiety. It is estimated that 1 in 10 people 65 years or older has dementia or Alzheimer’s. Hypothesis In this article, scientist study whether self-reported memory failure is accurate in reporting early sign of dementia and Alzheimer’s in patients. It is important to be able to detect early sign of dementia disorders so that scientist can find effective medical treatments to slow down the process. In the study, the purpose was to investigate relationship between subjective memory and incident dementia. Subjective memory is an...
Words: 673 - Pages: 3
...Dementia are usually diagnosed clinically from the history of the patients, relatives and from the clinical observations, based on the presence of characteristics neurological and neuropsychological features and the absence of alternative conditions. computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography and single emission computed tomography are the advanced medical imaging techniques, which could be used to help and exclude other cerebral pathology or subtypes of the dementia thus this may help to predict the type of dementia that can be converted from one type to another that means from one stage to the other stage of dementia. Thus, some of the assessment can be done to know the intellectual functioning, which may...
Words: 673 - Pages: 3
...called dementia is a strong possibility. Another diagnosis a doctor can give you is Alzheimer's. It is horrible to have always have something interfering with your daily life. Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia in people all over the world. (What is Dementia?, No Page.) Dementia is a very common disease throughout the entire world. (Dementia, No Page.) Dementia can be very dangerous if necessary safety precautions are not taken. (What is Dementia?, No Page.) Dementia is a very common disease around the world so we need to know what exactly...
Words: 421 - Pages: 2
...Dementia is a syndrome that affects twenty five percent of individuals over the age of eighty five. Dementia causes several cognitive deficits, such as; behavioral disturbance and a change in personality. dementia is directly linked to elderly suicide attempts. It is important for us to become educated on dementia and its signs so that it can be detected earlier. The sooner dementia is detected the sooner the patient can receive professional care. We must ask ourselves what can be done to help the elderly suffering from dementia? Is it dementia that causes elderly depression and even suicide attempts? There are many unanswered questions on dementia that with a little extra research could be answered. Dementia has been around since the dawn...
Words: 1752 - Pages: 8
...The Expressive Arts of Dementia Mark Twain once said, “Out of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most.” Dementia can have that effect on individuals and their caregivers. The term ‘dementia’ comes from the latin that literally means ‘mind gone’; ‘de’ has the meaning of gone, as ‘mens’ has the meaning of mind (Buijssen 14). Dementia is caused by the damage of brain cells which interfere with the communication process within the brain. Cells within the hippocampus, the part of the brain that help you learn and store memory, are usually the first cells to be damaged, making memory loss one of the first symptoms (“Dementia” par. 6-8). Dementia isn’t memory loss, but rather a chemical and structural change in the brain (Snow par. 6). This change of the brain physically can change a person dramatically mental wise....
Words: 1224 - Pages: 5
...IS IT A 'SENIOR MOMENT' OR EARLY DEMENTIA? ANNOTATION 2 Wilcox, J. A., & Duffy, P. R. (2016, May). Is it a 'senior moment' or early dementia? Addressing memory concerns in older patients. Current Psychiatry. 15(5), 28+. Retrieved from Gale Psychology Database http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=PPPC&sw=w&u=oakv28633&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA453722055&asid=a033e08c712ed7a301c741214c67d2d2 In the article "Is it a 'senior moment' or early dementia?" by Dr. James A. Wilcox and Dr. P. Reid Duffy, two categories of cognitive decline among people older than 65 are examined: normal cognitive change and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Normal cognitive change is a result of aging. A typical sign of normal cognitive change is forgetfulness. Common situations of forgetfulness include misplaced objects and short-term lapses. There is no need to worry about forgetfulness "... as long as the item or memory is recalled within 24 to 48 hours."...
Words: 482 - Pages: 2
...In 1899, German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin, who is considered one of the greatest contributors to the field of schizophrenia research, distinguished between mood disorders and dementia praecox, thus defining the term dementia praecox as a psychotic deteriorating disorder. In the early 1900s, Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler brought the term “schizophrenia” to public attention, meaning “splitting of the mind.” Dementia praecox was defined as form of dementia, which is a chronic disorder, however, Bleuler explained that the illness was not chronic, and thus, must be redefined. The word schizophrenia was therefore used to define the separation of different functions in the brain that occurs as symptoms of the disease. In the mid 1900s, convulsive therapy was introduced, in which the patient would be introduced to electrically induced seizures, however, this resulted in permanent deficits and was cruel and ineffective. In the beginning of the 20th century, German psychiatrist Kurt Schneider defined exact symptoms of schizophrenia,...
Words: 643 - Pages: 3
...When it comes to Lewy Body Dementia there are a lot of misconceptions about it. Many people believe that Dementia and Alzheimer’s are the same thing however, that is incorrect. Dementia refers to the multiple symptoms and then, they attribute to a diagnosis to a specific type of Dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common forms. Alzheimer’s disease is irreversible, progressive and it destroys memory, and cognitive skills. The specific type that will be discussed is Lewy Body Dementia. “Lewy Body Dementia is associated with abnormal deposits of a protein called alpha-synuclein in the brain. These deposits, called Lewy bodies, affect chemicals in the brain whose changes, in turn, can lead to problems with thinking, movement, behavior...
Words: 900 - Pages: 4
...41 Dementia is seen in 5% of population over the age of 65 and about 30% after the age of 80. Dementia represents, after cancer and cardiac vascular disorders, the third most common cause of death. It is defined as a condition of chronic and progressive loss of intellectual abilities that is severe enough to interfere with social or occupational functioning. Dementia refers to acquired global impairment of intellect, memory and personality (cognitive function) and is not a disease itself but rather a group of symptoms caused by the impact of diseased brain. It is usually chronic and progressive in nature and symptoms typically include problems with memory, speech and perception with disturbances of multiple higher cortical...
Words: 826 - Pages: 4
...oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again.” -Eleanor Roosevelt (“Goodreads”, n.d.). This quote brings promptly to the mind that in our lifetime we have inevitable stages that we all must pass through; the most glaring being old age and death. And as we age we are susceptible to ailments that in our younger years were previously unheard of, such as Lewy Body Dementia or the irresistible urge to go to the early-bird special. According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, “Lewy body dementia, the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer's disease, causes a progressive decline in mental abilities.”. People with Lewy Body Dementia have vivid hallucinations of people, animals, or objects. As with many people caring for loved ones, I have witnessed from my grandmother just how truly terrifying the experience is for people with Lewy Body Dementia. From wishing to help elderly people suffering from this Dementia and my desire to follow a career into the medical field, I have designed an experiment to measure the effectiveness to which elderly patients with Lewy Body Dementia have decreased chance of hallucinations after being told throughout a given day that said hallucinations aren't real. My hypothesis is that if elderly patients are told throughout a given day that their hallucinations aren’t really there, then they will take comfort from this fact and have decreased chance of more...
Words: 624 - Pages: 3
...Background Dementia is a term that describes a syndrome/group of syndromes which is categorised by a series of signs and symptoms demonstrated by gradual loss of memory and other weakening of intellectual functions of daily living which is associated with mostly people living aged 65 years and above (Burns 2009). It is a gradual damage of neurological activities which is epitomised by brain cell death over time (DeFina et al., 2013)(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 2013). There are several forms of dementia which include Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most common type, constituting over 60-70% of the cases (World Health Organisation, 2015). Then other cases include vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, front temporal...
Words: 1102 - Pages: 5
...BEL311 ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES TERM PAPER ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: NOT JUST A LOSS OF MEMORY Prepared by: XXXXXXXXX (matric no.) XXXXXXXXX (matric no.) Group XXX Prepared for: XXXXXXXXXXXX Date of Submission: July 2011 Introduction Alzheimer's disease, a neurodegenerative brain disease, is the most common cause of dementia. It currently afflicts about 4 million Americans and is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Furthermore, Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of mental impairment in elderly people and accounts for a large percentage of admissions to assisted living homes, nursing homes, and other long-term care facilities. Psychotic symptoms, such as delusions and hallucinations, have been reported in a large proportion of patients with this disease. In fact, it is the presence of these psychotic symptoms can lead to early institutionalization (Bassiony, et al, 2000). Learning about Alzheimer’s disease and realizing that it is much more that just a loss of memory can benefit the families of those with the disorder as well as society as a whole. This paper is to look at the disorder, as well as to discuss the history, symptoms, diagnosis, current researches and hopes of a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. History Around the turn of the century, two kinds of dementia were defined by Emil Kraepin: senile and presenile. The presenile form was described more in detail by Alois Alzheimer as a progressive deterioration...
Words: 2500 - Pages: 10
...Alzheimer’s Disease: Not Just Loss of Memory This is a 8 page, 10 resource paper discussing Alzheimer’s disease, discussing the history, symptoms, diagnosis and hopes for a cure of the disease. Alzheimer’s Disease: Not Just Loss of Memory Introduction Alzheimer's disease, a neurodegenerative brain disease, is the most common cause of dementia. It currently afflicts about 4 million Americans and is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Furthermore, Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of mental impairment in elderly people and accounts for a large percentage of admissions to assisted living homes, nursing homes, and other long-term care facilities. Psychotic symptoms, such as delusions and hallucinations, have been reported in a large proportion of patients with this disease. In fact, it is the presence of these psychotic symptoms can lead to early institutionalization (Bassiony, et all, 2000). Learning about Alzheimer’s disease and realizing that it is much more that just a loss of memory can benefit the families of those with the disorder as well as society as a whole. The purpose of this paper is to look at the disorder, as well as to discuss the history, symptoms, diagnosis and hopes of a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. History Around the turn of the century, two kinds of dementia were defined by Emil Kraepin: senile and presenile. The presenile form was described more in detail by Alois Alzheimer as a progressive deterioration of...
Words: 2453 - Pages: 10
...An Overview of Dementia: How It Has Touched My Life Dementia is an illness that occurs when there is a loss of brain function as a result of the presence of certain diseases. Dementia affects a person’s memory, judgment, behavior, thinking, and language. Dementia includes Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and tends to increase the most from the age of 65. Various references and literature in reference to dementia indicate that the number of patients with dementia will increase significantly as society ages, especially within the next three decades. Dementia causes significant family issues and can become a financial burden on patients and their family members. These burdens impair the ability of a person to function independently and also have a tremendous impact on his or her relationships and quality of life. The subject of this paper will discuss an overview of dementia, treatments of dementia, how it affects human lives, and also the affect dementia has had on the life of the writer of this paper An Overview of Dementia: How It Has Touched My Life As a child growing up in the early 1970s, the writer of this paper can recall his neighborhood. It was peaceful and had a several people who were known elderly and considered as senior citizens. The writer of this paper also remembers when the adults of the neighborhood would speak of the elderly and tend to talk the most about their strange behaviors. Although this was often the case, the talk of...
Words: 3687 - Pages: 15