Dementia

Dementia is a disease which will affect your memory, language and alertness but not your consciousness. Population over the age of 65, about 6% will 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 mood and changes in personality. Approximately 12% of all people with dementia will actually develop depression. Sometimes, in the early phase of dementia, it can be mistaken for depression. On the other hand, some people with depression are so inhibited and passive that they may appear demented. This is called pseudodementia, which is a condition that can be treated with the right treatment.