Senility: This is the older, common term used to describe an elderly person with memory problems. Its use is dying out as we become more familiar with the term dementia. Dementia: Dementia is not a disease, but rather a group of symptoms. Think of it as the generic term to describe someone whose key symptom is problems with short term memory. For a person to be clinically diagnosed with dementia they would also need to exhibit additional symptoms of decline in brain function such as poor judgment, disorientation, decline in language, problem solving or other mental abilities, etc. (see Diagnosis). Dementia is not a psychiatric condition even though some symptoms and behaviors might lead family members to suspect psychiatric problems. See the page Types of Dementia for more details or visit the emedicinehealth.com website for a more extensive discussion of dementia. Senile Dementia: In this context senile simply means that the person with the dementia condition is elderly. Presenile dementia would describe a person under the age of 60 or so who has dementia. Again, the use of the word senile is dying out. Presenile dementia is generally referred to as Early Onset Dementia today and senile dementia is simply dementia. Alzheimer’s Disease: There are over 60 different causes of dementia (see Types of Dementia). Alzheimer’s disease is probably the best know of these. Often people will use the word Alzheimer’s to talk about all dementias. But Alzheimer’s is a specific disorder characterized by the accumulation of “plaques and tangles” in the brain (resulting from the destruction of brain cells). (Chronic) Organic Brain Syndrome (OBS): Some physicians will still give this more traditional diagnosis rather than simply say dementia (or Alzheimer’s). A diagnosis of OBS indicates a decline in brain function not due to psychiatric reasons and is more commonly simply referred to as dementia these days. Long and Short Term Memory: These are just as they sound. Our short term memory keeps information for a little while. Once new information is deemed important (by repetition, association with other important or known items or because of powerful emotional associations, etc.) it is moved into long term memory storage. Dementing illnesses affect the short term memory first. This is typically a slow, progressive process so that the person remembers sometimes and then forgets other times. Families often mistakenly believe that since early short term memory loss is inconsistent, or since the long term memory is still good (it is affected, but usually much later in the disease process) that the person is “trying to be difficult” or forgetting “on purpose”. But in reality this is just the normal pattern of the progression of dementia. Normal Age Related Memory Loss: It is indeed quite normal for elders to experience a decline in short term memory simply due to aging. This further complicates the picture and leaves families wondering is it “normal” or is it a dementia. Only a quality Diagnosis can sort this out, but a simple rule of thumb can help in the meantime: If a the problems with the short term memory are causing the person to change their lifestyle in order to avoid or accommodate the memory loss, then the person is probably dealing with a dementing condition rather normal age related memory loss. As an example, think of the person who stops going to her bridge game because she is afraid of forgetting the names of the other players. Or perhaps think of the man who loves to drive who stops for fear of getting lost or losing the car in the parking lot. Take a look also at the Warning Signs page here to compare what you are seeing with your loved one to what is commonly observed in the development of dementing illnesses. When you work with ALZCARE in finding the right care home, we help you to understand all of the issues that need to be considered for your situation.
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