Senile insanity is informally called a pathological process, which is known in science as dementia. Psychiatrist Bogdan Antonovich talks in detail about the disease, including the first signs
There are several types of senile insanity - vascular dementia, dementia in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and some other diseases.
Dementia is a syndrome caused by a disease of the brain, in which there are disorders of a number of higher cortical functions: memory, thinking, orientation in space, time, personality disorder, impaired counting, learning ability.
Deterioration of intellectual functioning in daily activities is observed, for example, disorders of eating, washing, dressing, personal hygiene skills.
"The course of dementia depends on its type, the main disease, as a rule, is chronic, progressive," the specialist also said.
The main cause of dementia is the death of neurons in the brain. Atherosclerosis, heart defects, arrhythmia, ischemic heart changes, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and stroke can also lead to the disease.
"Often, but not always, dementia is preceded by disorders in emotional control and social behavior. Memory disorders, as a rule, attract the attention of relatives and close people," explains Aleksandrovich.
It is worth noting that it is not easy to recognize the first manifestations of the disease, as they are quite often "masked" as fatigue, stress and age-related changes.
As Bogdan Antonovic said, there are simple tests that can make it possible to suspect dementia - the Mini-Kog test, the clock drawing test, the MMSE (Mini-Mental State Examination) test.
However, the psychiatrist added that the diagnosis of the disorder is made by a specialist, and research can only suspect the problem.
It is important to treat dementia as early as possible, as early treatment is much more effective than late-stage therapy.
