As a conceptual approach to health care, the biopsychosocial model aims to provide an understanding for how psychological and social factors continually interact with biological influences in disease and illness. Developed by Dr. George Engel, the biopsychosocial model places value of lifestyle and health related behaviours as influences in health and in disease. In comparison to the earlier Biomedical Model, which focused purely on biological factors, Engel believed psychological and social factors had contributions to the cause, prevention and treatment of disease (Lakhan, 2006). In an effort to combine biological, psychological and social factors, the biopsychosocial model can be utilized to create a more comprehensive picture of disease
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Dementia is diagnosed by the presence of symptoms such as problems with memory, thinking, problem solving, language disturbances and psychological changes. Neurodegenerative changes within the brain, such as neuron death and a build-up of misplaced proteins are causal to the aforementioned symptoms. While an in depth understanding of the neurobiology of dementia has not been established, dementia diseases are characterized by the grade of neuron loss and the irreversible damage within the connections of the brain, combined with the resulting symptoms (Caberlotto and Nguyen, 2014). One of the most common forms of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, occurs as a result of chemical and degenerative structural changes within the brain. Dementia can also be caused by a number of conditions such as vascular dementia following a stroke, fronto-temporal dementia caused by brain injury or Korsakoff’s syndrome, which is associated with long term excessive drinking. While these causes of dementia are not an exhaustive list, it is important to also consider percussive conditions or risk states for dementia, such as prolonged stress or mild cognitive impairment (Alzheimer 's Society, …show more content…
Commonly, MCI precedes Alzheimer’s disease, however current research evidence has not proven MCI to be causal to the disease (Gauthier et al., 2006). Burock & Naqvi (2014) described dementia as a continuum, which begins at normal aging deficits, leading to MCI and eventually Alzheimer’s dementia. In the presentation of MCI, the patient would demonstrate memory deficits greater than what would be expected for their age, however they would still retain normal functional
Dementia is diagnosed by the presence of symptoms such as problems with memory, thinking, problem solving, language disturbances and psychological changes. Neurodegenerative changes within the brain, such as neuron death and a build-up of misplaced proteins are causal to the aforementioned symptoms. While an in depth understanding of the neurobiology of dementia has not been established, dementia diseases are characterized by the grade of neuron loss and the irreversible damage within the connections of the brain, combined with the resulting symptoms (Caberlotto and Nguyen, 2014). One of the most common forms of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, occurs as a result of chemical and degenerative structural changes within the brain. Dementia can also be caused by a number of conditions such as vascular dementia following a stroke, fronto-temporal dementia caused by brain injury or Korsakoff’s syndrome, which is associated with long term excessive drinking. While these causes of dementia are not an exhaustive list, it is important to also consider percussive conditions or risk states for dementia, such as prolonged stress or mild cognitive impairment (Alzheimer 's Society, …show more content…
Commonly, MCI precedes Alzheimer’s disease, however current research evidence has not proven MCI to be causal to the disease (Gauthier et al., 2006). Burock & Naqvi (2014) described dementia as a continuum, which begins at normal aging deficits, leading to MCI and eventually Alzheimer’s dementia. In the presentation of MCI, the patient would demonstrate memory deficits greater than what would be expected for their age, however they would still retain normal functional