Dementia

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the term "dementia" is used by the medical community to describe patients with impaired intellectual capacity; dementia patients may also be labelled as having "presenile" or "senile" dementia, "chronic" or "organic brain syndrome," "arterio-sclerosis," or
"cerebral atrophy". The author points out that two of the most common forms of dementia are Alzheimer's disease, which causes the brain to lose its ability and makes it stop functioning normally, and multi-infarct dementia in which a blockage in the blood vessels causes damage to different parts of the brain resulting in minor strokes. The paper concludes that patients suffering from dementia become in many ways like children losing control over their mind and become strongly dependant on others to function normally; hence, the people who care for these patients must do so with love, understanding and patience.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Dementia
Clinical Presentation
Cognitive Changes
Psychiatric Symptoms
Personality Changes
Problem Behaviors
Changes in Day-to-Day Functioning
Charlie
The Work Environment
Management and Treatment
Dealing with Inappropriate Behavior
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"With staff that worked with Charlie, I will step into the world of Charlie who is suffering from dementia for the past 6 years; he is 54 years old and at first glance would pass of as an extinguished old gentleman, greying at the temples having an air of aristocracy about him. When
Charlie first started to exhibit symptoms of dementia, his family put it down to mood swings and thought he was going through a period of depression and tried to help him. At first there were upset over his forgetfulness but soon realised that something was happening to Charlie which he had no ability to control and soon they found out that he
was suffering from dementia."

More papers on Dementia:

• Analytical Essay # 142817 : "Pathophysiology of Age-Associated Dementia"
• Term Paper # 120665 : "Vascular Dementia"
• Descriptive Essay # 131308 : "Front Temporal Dementia"
• Essay # 70112 : "Vascular Dementia"

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