Research: Introduction to dementia

Book research
Introduction to Dementia

Taken from-Cayton, H. 2008. Alzheimer's and other Dementias: Answers at your fingertips, 3rd Edition, London: Class Publishing.

Where the name Alzheimer’s comes from

Alzheimer’s disease is named after Dr Alois Alzheimer, a German neurologist, who in 1906 observed changes in the brain tissue of a woman in her 50s, who died of what was thought to be an unusual mental illness. These abnormal brain tissue changes are now known to be the characteristic features of Alzheimer’s disease.

Early onset dementia

Although the term pre-senile dementia sometimes still appears in textbooks, it should not be used. Fewer than 2 in 100 cases of dementia occur in people under 65.

Types of dementia

·      Vascular dementia, which is usually the result of brain damage due to tiny strokes

·      Lewy body dementia, which has some features in common with Parkinson’s disease

·      Fronto-temporal dementia, for example Pick’s disease, in which there are striking changes in behaviour before the memory problems appear.

·      Huntington’s disease, also sometimes called Huntington’s chorea, which is characterised by jerky movements in addition to dementia.

·      AIDS-related dementia

·      Dementia that sometimes occurs together with Parkinson’s disease

·      Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)

·      Dementia due to brain tumour

·      Normal pressure hydrocephalus, due to build up of fluid in the brain

·      Dementia due to excessive intake of alcohol over an extended period of time

·      Dementias due to various treatable causes, including vitamin deficiency, hormone deficiency and syphilis.

Dementia Vs Alzheimer’s

Dementia is a term used to describe various disorders of the brain that usually result in progressive and severe loss of memory. Alzheimer’s disease is one type of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common dementia, accounting on its own for roughly 50% of all cases (and occurring with another cause in a further 20% of cases).

Reflection
This piece of research was best to gain an understanding of the different types of dementia and common features of them. It helped me gain a well rounded picture of all the different dementias. I will bear these in mind but I think it would be too complicated for me to portray all these different types of dementia.