Acquired dementia, which affects the elderly most often, is called dementia (from Latin "madness"). This pathology is not congenital, but acquired. Before the disease a person is able to think in a logical way and to serve himself, but partially loses these opportunities.
Dementia - what is it?
It is important to understand when dementia has come, that it is a disease that is caused by a brain damage. People of any age, not just the elderly, are subject to dementia, and the number of cases is steadily growing. In contrast to other abnormalities, for example, oligophrenia, this syndrome is acquired and does not mean maldevelopment of the psyche. Dementia is a serious disorder of nervous activity, as a result of which a patient loses acquired skills and knowledge, and can not comprehend new ones. The disintegration of the mental functions of a healthy person is observed.
Dementia in Psychology
Often, the syndrome develops due to other diseases (Parkinson, Pick, Alzheimer, etc.), injuries. The disorder occurs in the cerebral cortex and can have various forms in terms of severity and course: mild, moderate and severe. If there is a concomitant disease and it progresses, dementia itself develops, the disease depersonalizes the patient. The patient loses most of the thinking, ceases to know the world around him, and interest in life fades. The syndrome manifests itself multifaceted: memory, speech, logic are broken, depressive states appear.
Dementia - the causes of
This syndrome occurs as a result of organic damage to the brain after trauma or some kind of disease (sometimes several at once). To provoke his illness can more than 200 pathological conditions. With specific forms of dementia, disorders in the cerebral cortex are the leading mechanism of the disease. In other cases, the defeat of the central nervous system is a consequence of this syndrome.
The most common causes of dementia are:
- Alzheimer's disease (up to 65% of all cases);
- vascular damage caused by atherosclerosis, arterial hypertension, impaired circulation and blood properties;
- alcohol abuse and drug addiction;
- Parkinson's disease;
- Pick's disease;
- craniocerebral trauma;
- endocrine diseases (thyroid problems, Cushing's syndrome );
- autoimmune diseases (multiple sclerosis, lupus erythematosus);
- infection (AIDS, chronic meningitis, encephalitis, etc.);
- diabetes;
- severe diseases of internal organs;
- consequence of the complication of hemodialysis (blood purification),
- severe renal or hepatic insufficiency.
Dementia Symptoms
There are three stages of the disease, so each of them has its own symptomatology:
- The main symptom of this disease is a progressive memory disorder. The obvious signs of dementia are sudden irritability, cruelty, untidiness, regression in human behavior.
- Secondary signs of the syndrome: amnestic memory disorders, when the patient ceases to recognize himself in the mirror, confuses the right and left arm and so on.
- At the last stage, the muscle tone begins to increase, which can lead to a vegetative state and a lethal outcome.
Depending on the degree of the disease, its symptoms and the patient's reaction are expressed in different ways:
- With mild dementia, he is critical of his condition and is able to take care of himself.
- With a moderate degree of damage, there is a decrease in intelligence and difficulty in household behavior.
- Severe dementia - what is it? The syndrome signifies a complete disintegration of the personality, when an adult can not even independently manage the need and eat.
How to avoid dementia?
Senile dementia is one of the leading causes of disability in the elderly. On the development of the syndrome do not reflect in youth, meanwhile the first signs of degradation can appear already in 55-60 years. Asking the question how to prevent dementia long before its possible manifestation, you need to introduce into your life several rules and useful habits:
- refusal from alcohol and smoking;
- proper nutrition (daily intake of the necessary amount of vitamins, exclusion of fast food and fatty foods);
- moderate physical activity;
- intellectual activity;
- peace of mind (avoid stress, avoid irritation);
- prevention of vitamin D deficiency - its lack in the body leads to the development of Alzheimer's disease and subsequent dementia.
Types of dementia
The manifestation of the syndrome depends on the affected parts of the brain, pathological processes, the presence of concomitant or primary diseases, the age of the patient. By localization of the disease, dementia is divided into several types:
- Cortical , which is formed when the cortex is damaged. It is subdivided into subtypes: frontal (frontal lobe) and frontotemporal (frontal lobe damage).
- Subcortical or subcortical , in which the subcortical structures are affected.
- Cortical-subcortical (there are both types of lesions described above).
- Multifocal , when the brain has multiple lesions.
Senile dementia
Age-related dementia is a common pathology that affects people of advanced age. Due to a lack of nutrition, neurons in the brain die, and this leads to irreversible changes. At the initial stage of the syndrome, a person may not understand, then he was struck by dementia, that this is a disease that can lead to complete insanity. The first signs of the disease are reduced concentration and rapid fatigue. Other harbingers: slowing of intellectual activity, difficulties in elementary actions, mood changes.
Alcoholic dementia
Not necessarily the disease affects people of advanced age. With long - from 15 years - alcohol abuse, alcoholic dementia occurs, the symptoms of which are: social degradation, loss of moral values, decreased mental capacity, attention deficit disorder, memory disorder, impaired activity of internal organs, atrophic changes in the brain. Usually degradation of personality is the last stage in the development of alcoholism. Up to 20% of all patients acquired this diagnosis as a result of alcohol abuse.
The danger of ethyl alcohol is that it disrupts the work of the neurotransmitters responsible for emotions. From the abuse of alcohol suffer internal organs, the walls of blood vessels, the brain. Dementia of this species appears after prolonged damage to neurons with ethyl alcohol. And usually the development of the disease is observed in the third stage of dependence, when a person loses control over the quality and quantity of drunk.
Organic dementia
One of the causes of acquired dementia is brain damage due to craniocerebral injuries, inflammation and bruises. Vascular diseases, AIDS, syphilis, etc. can also be an impetus to development. Organic dementia is a disease that can be total when all forms of cognitive activity (thinking, attention, memory, etc.) and partial (partial) suffer. In the second case, certain aspects of the cognitive process are affected, with the relative preservation of critical thinking and social behavior.
Schizophrenic Dementia
Various diseases associated with dementia show specific symptoms. In schizophrenia, the syndrome is characterized by an insignificant decrease in intelligence, but the appearance of apathy, inadequacy, the formation of psychosis and paranoia. The period of exacerbation begins against the background of an oppressed emotional state. Then disorientation in space follows. Schizophrenic dementia is dementia, in which memory remains unchanged for a long time, but there is no purposefulness. The behavior of the patient is characterized as strange and helpless.
How to behave with patients with dementia?
With this disease, the forecast is doubtful. The main difficulty is frequent changes in personality and behavior. And the main question that worries the relatives of patients: how to help the patient with dementia. There are individual treatment programs and social and rehabilitation measures. It is important to understand and distinguish that dementia is such a model of behavior, not pathology. The environment is important to tune in to positive interaction, because it depends on them how the patient will keep in touch with the outside world. It is recommended to follow simple advice regarding the patient:
- clearly formulate questions, speak slowly and clearly;
- give tips if the person does not cope, be able to wait;
- take possession of the patient's attention;
- to divide actions into a chain of simple steps;
- to communicate in a positive way.
How to treat dementia?
For effective treatment, it is necessary to diagnose dementia syndrome as early as possible, and the tactics of treatment depend on the diagnosis. There is no clear recommendation on the treatment of senile dementia, because each person is individual. But proper care, the use of strengthening drugs and drugs that normalize the brain, can significantly reduce the level of degradation and even completely stop dementia. With competent therapy, the deviations of cognitive functions are reversible.
- To reduce the manifestations of the disease can even be through the normalization of nutrition and regimen (for example, in the case of alcoholic dementia).
- Prevent the death of nerve cells and eliminate the symptoms of the disease and drug. The basis of therapy includes drugs for improving nervous processes, normalizing blood circulation in blood vessels and drugs that strengthen neural connections in the brain.
- Patients need not only medication, but also psychological help. Psychosocial therapy, which positively influences the mood of the patient and improves cognitive disabilities during the course of the illness, has proved itself well. Beneficial effects on the general condition of the patient contact with loved ones, animals, music therapy.