What is Dementia?
Contradictory to popular belief, dementia is not a specific disease. It's an overall term which describes a variety of conditions associated with a decline in memory and cognitive abilities. Dementia is a progressive illness, meaning that the symptoms gradually get worse as more brain cells are damaged and die. Not only does Dementia cause harm the mental health of the victim it also negatively alters the emotional and physical abilities of the affected individual.
Contradictory to popular belief, dementia is not a specific disease. It's an overall term which describes a variety of conditions associated with a decline in memory and cognitive abilities. Dementia is a progressive illness, meaning that the symptoms gradually get worse as more brain cells are damaged and die. Not only does Dementia cause harm the mental health of the victim it also negatively alters the emotional and physical abilities of the affected individual.
History of Dementia
Before the 19th century Dementia was a clinical term used to refer to all mental illnesses. However after the First World War medical industries began to increase their research and soon developed the idea that Dementia was a specific type of cognitive dysfunction. Below is a timeline which briefly describes the discovery of Dementia.
- Before 19th century: The idea of developing mental disabilities such as memory loss was commonly used by poets and even writers such as Shakespeare. In 550 BC the term dementia was developed in Chinese medical context.
- Early 19th century: At this time physicians believed that dementia was an illness which only affected the elderly as a result of a condition called cerebral atherosclerosis.
- 1913-1920: Physicians began to diagnose those with Schizophrenia as developing a severe form of Dementia.
- 1976: Neurologist Robert Katzmann suggested that there was a link between dementia and Alzheimer's disease and those above the age of 65 would at high risk of Dementia
- 21st century: Researchers found that Dementia was not the correct term to be used to identify all cognitive illnesses. Through pathological examination of brain tissues, symptomatology, and by nuclear medical imaging tests it was discovered that Dementia was a different illness.
How common is Dementia?
Dementia is often described as one of the most unheard of and socially rejected forms of mental dysfunction. People with dementia are often physically or chemically restrained which has raised issues of human rights and increased social stigma towards those who suffer from this condition.
Below are some of the statistics regarding the prevalence of Dementia around the world.
- Globally dementia affects 47.5 million people
- About 10% of people develop Dementia at some point in their lives
- About 3% of people between the ages of 65–74 have dementia
- About 19% of people between 75 and 84 and nearly half of those over 85 years of age have Dementia
- In 2013 dementia resulted in about 1.7 million deaths