Understand the Process and Experience of Dementia

1 Understand the neurology of dementia.
1.1 Describe a range of causes of dementia syndrome
1.2 Describe the types of memory impairment commonly experienced by individuals with dementia.
Dementia is an illness which causes the sufferer to lose basic cognitive ability and loss of reality perception. Dementia causes brain cells to degenerate and die more quickly that the natural process. All forms of dementia is caused by the build-up of harmful proteins which damage and change the brain cells. Their different types of dementia and are classed by the type of harmful proteins the most common of which are:-

Alzheimer’s Disease
This is the most common form of dementia and affects people’s abilities to remember recent events and learn new things. People also experience increased irritability, anxiety, depression, confusion, and restlessness. People who suffer from this form of dementia will also tend to become confused easily, misplace things and often repeat things. Alzheimer’s disease is medically known as atrophy. The area of the brain which is most affected by this from of dementia is the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is a main functioning part of the brain responsible for processing thought and performing many complex functions. The effect of Alzheimer’s is caused by the build-up clumps of protein known as Plagues and Trangles this build up then interferes with the communication pathways of the brain resulting in the symptoms described above.

Vascular Dementia
This form of dementia affects peoples memory functions both short and long term. Suffers can also experience erratic mood swings like suddenly laughing or crying. People with this form of dementia can also experience loss of bowel and bladder control, and at the extreme of this can have symptoms like paralysis difficulty with language and loss of vision. Vascular Dementia causes interruption in blood supply, which is vital to keep the body functioning. When blood supply is interrupted organs are damaged and cells die through lack of oxygen and nutrience.

Lewy Bodies
This form of dementia affect people motor skills and can be pre-cursed by Parkinson’s disease. People who suffer from this form of dementia can experience difficulty in movement or controlling of movement and can also experience loss of mental ability reduced cognitive ability. The symptoms displayed by suffers depends on where the disease is located in the brain. Lewy Bodies causes small deposits of proteins in nerve cells which disrupt the communication between the nerve cells and eventually cause these cells to die and destroy brain tissue.

Frontotemporal Dementia
This form of dementia affects people’s behaviour and personality. People of suffer from this form of dementia can also have difficulty with language and can have emotional outbursts, behave inappropriately socially, lose motivation in activities, and people, and can have food cravings. People with this from of dementia often are not aware of their behaviour and will feel everything is normal. Frontotemporal Dementia is caused by damage to the frontal lobes of the brain. The protein build-up damages the nerve cells of the frontal lobes resulting in the above symptoms
1.3 Explain the way that individuals process information with reference to the abilities and limitations of individuals with dementia.
Dementia effects the cognitive abilities of an individual by interrupting the neural connections between the brain cells. The brain is a complex and intricate part of the human body and is the information processing centre. Depending on the area of the brain that is effected the symptoms that a sufferer of dementia will differ.
Alzheimer’s Disease
Due to the build-up of proteins in the brain the chemical that are used to transmit information around the brain decrease thus interrupting the flow of signals and communication pathways. This inability for the