Definition of dementia Dementia

/dɪmɛˈnʃiʌ/ - [dimensheeu] - de•men•tia

We found 8 definitions of dementia from 7 different sources.

What does dementia mean?

Noun Plural: dementias
dementia - mental deterioration of organic or functional origin
		dementedness
		insanity relatively permanent disorder of the mind
		alcohol amnestic disorder, alcoholic dementia, korsakoff's psychosis, korsakoff's syndrome, korsakov's psychosis, korsakov's syndrome, polyneuritic psychosis dementia observed during the last stages of severe chronic alcoholism; involves loss of memory for recent events although long term memory is intact
		presenile dementia dementia with onset before the age of 65

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dementia (Noun)
A progressive decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the brain beyond what might be expected from normal aging. Areas particularly affected include memory, attention, judgement, language and problem solving.
dementia (Noun)
madness or insanity.

dementia (n.)
Insanity; madness; esp. that form which consists in weakness or total loss of thought and reason; mental imbecility; idiocy.

dementia
Severe and progressive impairment or loss of intellectual capacity and personality integration, due to the loss of or damage to neurons in the brain.

dementia
de-men′shi-a, n. general mental enfeeblement, with loss of memory, reason, feeling, and will: often the consequence of acute mania. [L. de, neg., and mens, mentis, mind.]

Dementia is the progressive decline in cognitive function. It is caused by damage or disease in the brain. It is more common in older people and symptoms include the inability to remember things. That is, people who suffer from it tend to forget more things. A famous person who suffered from it was Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean leader.

Some types dementia are reversible. This means the damage of those can be undone. Other types are irreversible. This means that they cannot be undone. Irreversible dementia is usually caused by an incurable disease, such as Alzheimer's disease.

The two leading causes of dementia are Alzheimer's and Multi-infarct disease.

Reversible causes of dementia also include injuries to the head or the brain.