The word dementia stems from the Latin de meaning “without, absence” and mens meaning “mind”. This disease is characterized by decline of cognitive functions of a person including his or her memory and other mental abilities. It influences the personal ability to perform everyday’s activities. It is a complicated disorder and it can be caused by different factors such as injuries to the brain because of tumors, strokes or head traumas. In this case the dementia is explained by the lack of blood supply. In order to function appropriately brain cells need supply of blood. When injury of stroke takes place a part of the brain is cut off the blood. This causes damage to the brain cells. (Bayer, Iliffe, 2011). Hormone and metabolic disorders, hypoxia, infections including HIV (AIDS) also can lead to dementia. Furthermore, chronic alcoholism also can be the reason for dementia. It is considered that drinking large amounts of alcohol causes liver disease, which in turn leads to dementia. Apart from the mentioned factors dementia can be caused by medical conditions of a person. The diseases which lead to dementia are as follows: Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia Lewy bodies, and fronto-temporal dementia, Huntington’s disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (Hale, Frank, 2005). In many of these cases the dementia is irreversible.
The dementia is divided in two main categories: cortical dementia and subcortical dementia. The first one is caused by cerebral cortex’s damage. This layer of the brain plays a key role in cognitive processes such as speaking and remembering things; therefore its affection causes the disease. Patients with subcortical dementia have experience the damage of a part of the brain under the cortex. In this case a personality is changed and the attention level is lowered (Medical News Today, 2009).
The dementia is diagnosed according to a set of symptoms. Some of them are obvious, whereas others are hidden at early stages. First of all, a person experience loss of the short-time memory. Besides, he or she has difficulties in finding an appropriate word, remembering names and dates, performing daily routines. A person also may experience behavioral and mood changes. Patients with dementia often feel disoriented. The severe dementia is characterized by worsening of the above-mentioned symptoms as well as total loss of short and long-term memory, inability to walk, swallow and talk (Hale, Frank, 2005).
As the dementia is a complicated disease it requires different treatment techniques. Cholinesterase inhibitors together with tacrine, donepezil and galantamine are used to slow down the progression of dementia. Besides, selegiline, which is used to treat the Parkinson’s disease, also slows down the progress of dementia. Many patients with dementia experience the depression. To treat it, a variety of approaches including pharmacotherapy (antidepressants), electroconvulsive therapy and psychosocial modalities is used (Shub, Kunik, 2009). Furthermore, when dementia is caused by special medical disorders, the treatment is varied according to the disorder. For example, insomnia and infections are treated with medication intake.
References
Bayer, A., & Iliffe, S. (2011, December). What is vascular dementia? Alzheimer’s Society. Retrieved from http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/document_pdf.php?documentID=161
Hale, K. L., & Frank, J. (2005, October 27). Dementia Overview. Emedicine Health. Retrieved from http://www.emedicinehealth.com/dementia_overview/article_em.htm
Medical News Today. (2009). What is dementia? Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/142214.php
Shub, D., & Kunik, M. D. (2009, April 16). Comorbidity: psychiatric comorbidity in persons with dementia. Psychiatric Times. Retrieved from http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/alzheimer/content/article/10168/1403050
