Description

Dementia manifests as a set of related symptoms, whichusuallysurface when the brain is damaged by injury or disease.Thesymptoms involve progressive impairments to memory, thinking,andbehavior, which negatively impacts a person's ability tofunctionand carry out everyday activities. Aside from memoryimpairment anddisruption in thought patterns, the most commonsymptoms includeemotional problems, difficulties with language, anddecreasedmotivation. Dementia is not a disorder of consciousness,andconsciousness is not usually affected. The symptoms maybedescribed as occurring in a continuum over several stages.Adiagnosis of dementia requires a change from a person'susualmental functioning and a greater cognitive decline than thatdue tonormal aging. Several diseases and injuries to the brain,such as astroke, can give rise to dementia. However, the mostcommon causeis Alzheimer's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder.