Dementia

Dementia is one of a number of diseases which affects your memory, language and alertness but not your consciousness. You are still awake when you are demented. Out of the population over the age of 65, 6% suffer from severe dementia and 15% from a milder form. Dementia often develops gradually and the most common type is Alzheimer's disease.

In Alzheimer's disease the symptoms are

• bad memory
• aphasia - speech difficulty or difficulty understanding and finding words
• apraxia - difficulty carrying out tasks such as tying shoelaces
• agnosia - difficulty recognising things and people
• difficulty seeing things in the broader perspective, planning and structuring things
• difficulty with abstract reasoning

Dementia often causes passiveness, bad moods and changes in personality. Especially in the early phase of dementia, it can be mistaken for depression. Approximately 12% of all people with dementia will actually develop depression. On the other hand, some people with depression are so inhibited and passive that they appear demented. This is called hysterical pseudodementia, which is a condition that can be cured with the right treatment.