Mental health articles

dementia symptoms and signs Dementia is a group of diseases that affects how the brain works. There are many different types of dementia. The most common type is called Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia leads to a gradual deterioration in skills. The majority of dementias are irreversible.
Susan is 51 and has Down syndrome. She shares a flat with a friend with
support from an outreachworker. Susan’s friend isworried about her. She
tells the outreach worker that Susan has not been doing her share of the
housework, and gets irritable if reminded. She has been quite forgetful
recently, for instance she went out to buy some milk and came home
without it. Susan’s friend is finding the situation difficult.
Dementia tends to affect older people in the general population. It is far
more common in people aged over 80 years. People with intellectual disabilities are now living longer than before and we are starting to see more with dementia. Dementia is more common in people with intellectual disabilities.
One group that is at particular risk is people with Down syndrome. Although some people with Down syndrome do develop
dementia in their later years, this is not predictable or inevitable. Research
indicates that the incidence of dementia in people with Down syndrome is
similar to that of the general population except that it occurs 20–30 years
earlier (in middle age).
Services for people with intellectual disabilities and dementia need to
develop in order to meet the challenge of caring for these people, as this
group will grow in size in coming years.

Tags: dementia, dementia symptoms