Dementia Awarness

1. Understand what dementia is.
1.1: Explain what is meant by the term ‘dementia.’
The term dementia refers to a group of diseases which causes permanent decrease in a person’s ability to think, reason and manage aspects of their life, and is caused by biological processes in the brain which damages brain cells which cannot be repaired. Dementia is progressive; meaning that the symptoms worsens and the rate at which this occurs is dependent upon the type of dementia the individual has alongside the individuals themselves. As mentioned in one of the earlier sections dementia attacked the cognitive functions of person; which alter the way that person’s thinking process, memory, problem-solving, pattern recognition and attention processes. The damage caused is also irreversible and causes mental deterioration.

1.2: Describe the key functions of the brain that are affected by dementia.
As previously stated dementia affects the thinking functions of a person, and thus impacts on a large part of the brain. The key functions of the brain that dementia affects are:
• Memory
• Attention
• Problem-solving
• Decision making/judgement
• Reasoning
• Producing and recognising language/ communication skills
• Mood
• Behavioural pattern
• Personal care and safety
• Deciphering time and place
• Motor skills, gait and balance

1.3: Explain why depression, delirium and age related memory impairment may be mistaken for dementia.
 Age-related memory impairment
These are the common conditions that attributable to the decline in cognitive functions which are all part of the normal aging process. Differing from many other conditions these are due to psychological changes in the brain as a pose to neurological disorders. The symptoms of age related memory impairments include:
• Slowness in processing, storing and recalling information
• Memory loss/ forgetfulness
• Decline in concentration
• Decline in organisation

 Delirium
Delirium is a mental state of...