Restlessness and Agitation in People With Dementia Essay

Throughout this line of study, Alzheimer’s disease is a specific form of dementia. According to Alzheimer’s Association, dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability that is severe enough to hinder daily life. Memory loss is a symptom of dementia and the most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s. One of the most common and severe symptom of Alzheimer’s is difficulty remembering newly learned information. The changes of Alzheimer’s normally begin in the part of the brain that affects learning (Overview Alzheimer's Association). Some other symptoms of Alzheimer’s include gradual memory loss, the decline in capability to carry out everyday tasks and the loss of their language skills. According to Bialystok the rate of

Literature Review: The Effectiveness of the use of Sensory Therapy for Elderly Adults Diagnosed with Dementia.

Firstly, the behaviours ex- hibited by the individual with dementia are categorized into four stages which are memory dis- turbance and self-defensive behaviour, time confusion, repetitive motion and the vegetative stage, in which individuals express minimal movement (Jones & Miesen, 2008). Being able to categorize individuals’ behaviour into one of the stages above, allows the person using validation therapy to move to the next component of the approach which is the application of verbal and

Dementia is a term used to describe the symptoms of a number of illnesses which effect the function of the brain. It is an umbrella term describing the progressive decline in a person’s cognitive ability. The type and severity of symptoms varies with each type of dementia and is usually has a gradual onset, is progressive and irreversible. (1)

There are many reasons that Mrs. Yowell may have impaired mental functioning (see Table 1). The first and easiest reason to rule out would be a urinary tract infection (UTI). A urine sample can show if there are white blood cells (indicating infection) present in the urine. The increased levels of bacteria in an elderly person’s body can cause toxicity which leads to the altered mental status (Midthun, 2004). Most noted changes are confusion, agitation and lethargy.

Reckless behavior early in life can affect the rest of your life dramatically. Whether it is drinking too much, use of illegal drugs, or even just a simple vehicle accident, it can cause brain damage which can lead to dementia. Dementia isn’t necessarily a disease but rather terminology to describe a set of symptoms. “Severe impairment in intellectual capacity and personality, often due to damage to the brain” (Gazzaniga, Grison, & Heatherton, 2015). In other words, dementia comes with an inability to process surroundings, a difference in character, and, depending in severity, complete memory loss. This loss is because nerve cells in the parts of the brain that are responsible for cognition, like the cerebellum (Molinari, 2002), have been damaged and can no longer function normally. There are many types of dementia, such as, Alzheimer’s, the most common, as well as many others that differ in symptoms. Though many kinds of dementia normally end in pain, suffering and often death, there is no cure. Dementia is a neurocognitive disorder that can affects one’s life drastically, because of memory loss, an inability to preform everyday activities, and personality changes.

Dementia is a term used to describe symptoms associated with decline in memory or other

Dementia is a type of disorder that affects the central nervous system. It’s not a disease itself but a group of symptoms that characterize disease and conditions. It’s commonly defined as a decline in intellectual functioning that is severe enough to interfere with the ability to perform routine activities. It causes significant loss of intellectual abilities, such as memory capacity, severe enough to interfere with social or occupational functioning. Dementia‘s a general term that also includes specific disorders like vascular dementia as well as others.

Dementia is an acquired syndrome resulting from brain damage or disease. Two types of dementia are primary and secondary dementia. Primary dementias are disorders in which the dementia alone is the major sign of a biological brain disease, for example Alzheimer’s disease. Secondary dementias result from some other recognizable disease, such as multiple sclerosis. In having dementia, memory domains, and possibly language, judgement, abstract thinking, and/or executive thinking deteriorate progressively in severity until death. This differentiates dementia from other cognitive disorders such as delirium, age-related memory decline, or toxicity, all of which are temporary, treatable, or reversible. (Dementia: Overview, 2015).

People with dementia can display certain behaviour deemed inappropriate and unacceptable, such as shouting, excessive screaming, insultive and inappropriate touching. Such behaviours should be seen as a result of the person's conditions and handled in an empathetic and polite manner.

This behavior can almost be perceived as a deterioration or demotion in a person’s maturity. While it most certainly is not, it happens in a way that an individual seemingly regresses in their decision making and maturity. It is theorized that some of the behavioral research done on other populations of similar behavioral competency (child like behavior) could be done on an elderly population suffering from the behavioral regression of dementia. There has been little research such as this done, however. Currently, there is no cure for dementia. There are some drug therapies that are currently in use to help increase the chemical acetylcholine in the brain in an attempt to aid in memory retention and judgement. A few drugs in the class are: Donepezil, Rivastigmine, and Galantamine. These have been attempted treatments for the disease, but have had mixed results. In some cases such treatments have come up short, and in drastic cases, these treatments have made matters worse for some patients. Some of these treatments have been known to cause confusion, delirium, and even increased risk of mortality. An alternative to these medicinal treatments have been almost strictly environmental. This has been through the application of behavior-analytic principles that help see future problems before they arise. This application also allows for an more individualized care plan for someone suffering from effects of dementia.

Dementia is characterized as a condition where the mental processes of cognition and memory start to deteriorate. It is described as a syndrome that hinders the daily lives of those who have it and is characterized by memory and thinking impairment. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s Disease and the second most common is vascular dementia. Dementia is a syndrome occurring usually, but not limited, to people over the age of 40 and is due to brain damage caused by natural deteriorating, stroke or can be brought on by factors such as excessive drinking or drug abuse. Dementia is best cared for in its early stages and, therefore, an early diagnosis is essential. Recognizing the symptoms by both the dementia patient and the

It is already established that late-life depression is associated with increased risk of dementia, but the temporal relationship between depression and development of

I have no experience interacting with a person suffering from dementia upon which to draw, but I can believe there is sometimes great difficulty in providing them care. After reading your post, I was interested in the causes that may trigger aggressive behavior and have discovered that there are possibly three main explanatory areas that may be responsible for this: biological, social and psychological (Alzheimer’s Society, 2016). When these patients are in pain, try to relay their needs and are unsuccessful or perceive a wrong through lack of communication, frustration develops and this can progress towards anger (Alzheimer’s Society, 2016). Frustration and anger can develop when the needs of people who are quite able to communicate are not

This assignment critically discusses about dementia, a widespread disability among older adults today. It provides an introduction to dementia and analyses its prevalence in society. The various forms of dementias are elaborated with description about dysfunctions and symptoms. Nursing Assessment and Interventions are provided in the further sections which discusses about actions nurses should take on while evaluating patients and treating them. Finally, communication, an important Activity of Daily Living (ADL) is explored and patient/carer advice is presented so as to maintain good health conditions in the patient.