The chosen mental disorder is Dementia. Reading and learning about this disorder has helps me to understand some of the symptoms and problems patients and their family members go through when faced with this challenging and progressive disease. It will also help me in the future when working with individuals with various types of dementia. Dementia is not a specific disease. It is a general term describing the decline in mental ability that is severe enough to interfere with someone daily life. Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia. It accounts for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases. The second most common dementia is vascular dementia. It occurs after a person had a stroke. There are other conditions that could cause symptoms of …show more content…
Each type of dementia have their own symptoms and cause. I will elaborate on the symptoms and causes for Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia. Alzheimer’s is considered as a slowly progressive brain disease that begins well before symptoms emerges. The cause of Alzheimer is the “brain changes that occur where abnormal deposits of the protein fragment (plaques) and twisted strands of the protein which leads to damage nerve cell and death of different cells within the brain” (Alzheimer's and Dementia, n.d.). The symptoms for Alzheimer’s are difficulty of remembering recent conversations, names or events, apathy and depression are often early symptoms. Late symptoms are impaired communication, trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships, poor judgment, disorientation, confusion, and behavior / personality changes, difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, at work or at leisure, challenges in planning or solving problems, withdrawal from work or social activities, and difficulty speaking, swallowing and …show more content…
Occurs from blood vessel blockage or damage leading to infarcts (strokes) or bleeding in the brain. The location, number and size of the brain injury determines how the individual's thinking and physical functioning are affected. Vascular dementia symptoms are most obvious when they happen right after a major stroke. Patients with post-stroke changes in thinking and perception may include the following: confusion, disorientation, trouble speaking and / or understanding speech, and vision loss. These changes may happen at the same time as more familiar physical stroke symptoms, such as a sudden headache, difficulty walking, or numbness or paralysis on one side of the face or the body. Multiple small strokes or other conditions that “affect blood vessels and nerve fibers deep inside the brain may cause more gradual thinking changes as damage accumulates” (Alzheimer's and Dementia, n.d.). Common early signs of widespread small vessel disease include impaired planning and judgment; uncontrolled laughing and crying; declining ability to pay attention; impaired function in social situations; and difficulty finding the right
Stroke occurs when the blood supply to the brain is blocked or condensed. Blood works to transport oxygen and other beneficial substances to the body’s cells and organs, as well as the brain. There are two main types of strokes that are known as Ischemic strokes and Hemorrhagic strokes. When the blood vessels that provides for the brain becomes congested, is it referred to as ischemic stroke, the most common stroke within adults. Blood clots, a cluster of blood that sticks together, are the cause of Ischemic strokes. Ischemic strokes also takes place when arteries become backed up with plague, leaving less blood to flow. Plague is cholesterol, calcium and fibrous and connective tissue that sticks to the walls of blood vessels. Ischemic strokes eternally damage the brain and cause a person's body to no longer function habitually.Some risk factors that may increase stroke are high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity. Some stroke factors are also due to old age or having a family that has a history of strokes. Men are more likely to have a stroke but the most st...
A stroke is the acute neurologic injury that come as a result of an effect of ischemia or haemorrhage of the encephalon. Ischemia is caused by diminished supply of arterial blood which carries sugar and oxygen to brain tissue. Haemorrhagic stroke is due to intracerebral or subarachnoid bleeding and it damages the brain directly at the site of the bleeding by compressing the encircling tissue. Ischemic strokes can be embolic or thrombotic. Thrombotic stroke consequences from clot formation in the arterial blood vessel that provides blood to the encephalon, and can bear upon either large vessel or small vessel.
Strokes are not only the leading cause of mentally disabling adults, but they are also the third most common reason for deaths worldwide (Jarvis, 2012). In general, a stroke, also called a “cerebrovascular accident,” occurs when blood flow of the vascular system is blocked from reaching parts of the brain (Jarvis, 2012). There are two types of stroke, an ischemic stroke or a hemorrhagic stroke, and they differ in the way they affect the vascular system. An ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke, accounting for 80 percent of all strokes, and it is due to a thrombus or embolus blocking blood vessels supplying the brain (Durukan & Tatlisumak, 2007). A hemorrhagic stroke is less common, but is caused by the rupturing of a blood vessel in the brain and causes bleeding (Jarvis, 2012).
Cerebral Vascular Accident also known as a stroke occurs when part of the brain loses its blood supply and the part of the body that the blood-deprived brain cells control stops working. Blood loss supply can be ischemic because of lack of blood flow, or hemorrhagic because of bleeding into brain tissue. When an artery in the brain is being obstructed or blocked preventing oxygen rich blood from being delivered to brain cells, an ischemic stroke can occur (Wedro, 2013).
Cerebrovascular disease or the term stroke is used to describe the effects of an interruption of the blood supply to a localised area of the brain. It is characterized by rapid focal or global impairment of cerebral function lasting more than 24 hours or leading to death (Hatano, 1976). As such it is a clinically defined syndrome and should not be regarded as a single disease. Stroke affects 174-216 people per 10,000 population in the UK per year and accounts for 11% of all deaths in England and Wales (Mant et al, 2004). The risk of recurrent stroke within 5 years is between 30-43%. One problem is that the incidence of stroke rises steeply with age and the number of elderly people in the UK is on the increase. To date people who experience a stroke occupy around 20 per cent of all acute hospital beds and 25 per cent of long term beds (Stroke Association, 2004). The British Government now identifies stroke as a major economic burden on the National Health Service (DoH, 2002).
Cognitive deficits resulting from stroke include perceptual disorders, speech problems, dementia, and problems with attention and memory. A stroke sufferer may be unaware of his or her own disabilities, a condition called anosognosia. In a condition called hemi spatial neglect, a patient is unable to attend to anything on the side of space opposite to the damaged hemisphere.
The human brain is extraordinary organ. It stores our memories, vision, hearing, speech, and capable of executing executive higher reasoning and functions setting us apart from animals. Today we know more about the human brain because of medical advances and the development of technology. These brain disorders have been studied for years and many others would classify dementia as a mental illness because it causes cognitive impairments. The following paragraphs will discuss what dementia is, what the types of dementia are, perspectives of patients with dementia as well as the perspective of a caregiver to a dementia patient.
3a. There are several factors that make administering and accurately interpreting the results of neuropsychological tests difficult when dealing with stroke patients including visual neglect, aphasia, and hemiparesis. Visual neglect, or the loss of a section of one’s visual field often on one side, (right or left visual field), can occur in patients who have had a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or a stroke. A stroke is caused by a clot that forms and occludes (blocks) an artery in the brain thus starving a portion of the brain of blood (which contains vital nutrients like glucose and oxygen). Although it is common for other blood vessels
A stroke is a serious occurrence that is considered to be a medical emergency, according to CDC.gov. Strokes happen when either a blood clot in the brain blocks blood flow carrying vital oxygen, or a blood vessel breaks within the brain and oxygen does not arrive at specified locations. (CDC.gov/Stroke Fact Sheet) Oxygen is imperative for brain function. According to CDC.gov, the brain utilizes approximately twenty percent of the body’s oxygen intake; without a continuous intake of oxygen, brain cells begin to die. According to stroke.org, every single minute before a stroke can be treated, an estimated 1.9 million neurons are lost, which is why it is important to know the signs and symptoms of
Some of the other effects of stroke are slurred speech, dysathria which is a dropping or weak facial muscles. Both of these effects will quickly ear off. There is also dysphasia, which is a loss of or the ability to understand words. They have an inability to swallow, which is often referred to as dysphagia. The patient can lose his sense of touch, can have a loss of senses, and movements can be jerky, or uncoordinated. Almost all patients are depressed after they have had a stroke. One in four will have severe clinical depression. Some of these effects can be helped with medication.
c) Symptoms The main symptoms of stroke can be remembered with the word FAST: Face-Arms-Speech-Time. Face – the face may have dropped on one side, the person may not be able to smile or their mouth or eye may have dropped. Arms – the person with suspected stroke may not be able to lift both arms and keep them there because of arm weakness or numbness in one arm.
Stroke is a commonly known disease that is often fatal. This cellular disease occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted by either a blood clot halting the progress of blood cells in an artery, called an Ischemic stroke, or a blood vessel in the brain bursting or leaking causing internal bleeding in the brain, called a hemorrhagic stroke. When this happens, brain cells are deprived of oxygen and nutrients because the blood cells carrying these essential things are stopped, causing them to die. When the cells in the brain die, sensation or movement in a limb might be cut off and may limit an organism’s abilities. A person with stroke is affected depending on where in the brain the stroke occurs. In other words, symptoms of a stroke
Stephens, S., Kenny, R.A., Rowan, E., Allan, L., Kalaria, R.N., Bradbury, M., & Ballard, C.G. (2004). Neuropsychological characteristics of mild vascular cognitive impairment and dementia after stroke. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 19(11), 1053-1057.
•Vascular dementia is the broad term for dementia associated with problems of circulation of blood to the brain.
A stroke occurs when the blood supply to the brain is blocked or when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures, causing brain tissue to die. There are lots of signs and symptoms to look out for if an individual is having or going to have strokes. The symptoms are and not limited to, numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg especially on one side of the body, confusion, trouble speaking or understanding, trouble seeing in one or both eyes, trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination, severe headache with no known cause. With out the proper knowledge and understanding, no one is going to recognize that these are the things to look out for before an individual has stroke.