Dementia is what’s known as an “irreversible brain disorder affecting different parts of the brain, causing an effect on a range of functions” Bartle (2007).
Every from of dementia is a progressive condition, this means that the brain will become damaged more over time, this therefore means a person’s ability to remember, communicate and understand what goes on around them may will decline. When researches such as scientists look at dementia they find that the progression of dementia will alter between different individuals as they may experience different stages of dementia. When identifying and diagnosing dementia in people often in later adulthood they will look at what stage …show more content…
Health care practitioners and researchers are unsure what causes Alzheimer’s disease, however there are factors that can increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. These include; a person’s age, the family’s history of the condition, any previous head injuries and the individual’s lifestyle factors (smoking, drinking etc.). Alzheimer’s disease as mentioned previously is what’s called a progressive condition meaning the symptoms will increase over time. The first and most common sign of Alzheimer’s disease is usually memory loss, this may mean the individual may forget recent events, people’s names and even forget their whereabouts. Later on when the disease becomes more prominent the individual may begin to develop symptoms such as confusion, disorientation, getting lost in known arears, making unclear decisions, developing communication or speech problems and even mood swings such as becoming aggressive or even feeling depressed on a regular basis. In some cases an individual with Alzheimer’s disease will often experience hallucinations although this most often occurs during the later (severe) stages of