Mental or Behavioral Dysfunction
dementia
de·men·tia [ dih-men-shuh, -shee-uh ]
Subclass of:
Neurocognitive Disorders;
Brain Diseases
Etymology:
Latin de = away from + mens (mentis) = mind
Also called:
Senility
Definitions related to dementia:
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A condition in which a person loses the ability to think, remember, learn, make decisions, and solve problems. Symptoms may also include personality changes and emotional problems. There are many causes of dementia, including Alzheimer disease, brain cancer, and brain injury. Dementia usually gets worse over time.NCI Dictionary of Cancer TermsU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
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A loss of brain function that worsens over time and affects memory, thinking, behavior, and language.Harvard Dictionary of Health TermsHarvard Medical Publishing, 2011
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A loss of global cognitive ability of sufficient amount to interfere with normal social or occupational function. Dementia represents a loss of previously present cognitive abilities, generally in adults, and can affect memory, thinking, language, judgment, and behavior.Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO)The Human Phenotype Ontology Project, 2021
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An acquired organic mental disorder with loss of intellectual abilities of sufficient severity to interfere with social or occupational functioning. The dysfunction is multifaceted and involves memory, behavior, personality, judgment, attention, spatial relations, language, abstract thought, and other executive functions. The intellectual decline is usually progressive, and initially spares the level of consciousness.NLM Medical Subject HeadingsU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
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Loss of intellectual abilities interfering with an individual's social and occupational functions. Causes include Alzheimer's disease, brain injuries, brain tumors, and vascular disorders.NCI ThesaurusU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
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Mental disorder characterized by general impairment in intellectual functioning without clouding of consciousness; characterized by failing memory, difficulty with calculations, distractibility, alterations in mood and affect, impaired judgment and abstraction, reduced facility with language and disturbance of orientation. Although irreversible because of underlying progressive degenerative brain disease, dementia may be reversible if the cause can be treated.Sadock's Comprehensive Glossary of Psychiatry and PsychologyBJ Sadock Titles Press, 2012
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Dementia is a loss of mental functions that is severe enough to affect your daily life and activities. These functions include Memory; Language skills; Visual perception (your ability to make sense of The most common types of dementia are known as neurodegenerative disorders. These are diseases in which the cells of the brain stop working or die. They include Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common form of dementia among older people. People with Alzheimer's have plaques and tangles in their brain. These are abnormal buildups of different proteins. Beta-amyloid protein clumps up and forms plaques in between your brain cells. Tau protein builds up and forms tangles inside the nerve cells of your brain. There is also a loss of connection between nerve cells in the brain.; Lewy body dementia, which causes movement symptoms along with dementia. Lewy bodies are abnormal deposits of a protein in the brain.; Frontotemporal disorders, which cause changes to certain parts of the brain: Changes in the frontal lobe lead to behavioral symptoms; Changes in the...MedlinePlusU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
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Dementia is chronic, global, usually irreversible deterioration of cognition. Diagnosis is clinical; laboratory and imaging tests are usually used to identify treatable causes. Treatment is supportive. Cholinesterase inhibitors can sometimes temporarily improve cognitive function.Merck & Co., Inc., 2020
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Dementia describes a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities severely enough to interfere with your daily life. It isn't a specific disease, but several different diseases may cause dementia.Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
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Dementia, chronic, usually progressive deterioration of intellectual capacity associated with the widespread loss of nerve cells and the shrinkage of brain tissue. Dementia is most commonly seen in the elderly (senile dementia), though it is not part of the normal aging process and can affect...Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2020
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