Dementia: Common Terms to Know

A

ADLs (Activities of Daily Living)

These are the everyday self-care tasks we do, like eating, moving around, walking, getting dressed, and personal grooming. They’re the things that help a person keep their independence as much as possible.

Advance Directive (AD)

Think of this as a personal plan for future healthcare, written down while a person can still make their wishes clear. It helps loved ones and doctors make important care decisions if the person can’t do so later on.

Agnosia

Difficulty recognising familiar objects, people, or sounds, despite having normal sensory function.

Alzheimer’s Disease

This is a condition that progressively fades memory and the ability to learn new things. It can bring stress, change behaviours, and make day-to-day tasks challenging.

Anomia

Trouble finding the words to express oneself, commonly seen in various types of dementia.

Apathy

When someone shows little interest or emotion, which can sometimes look like they’re feeling down, but it’s different from depression.

Apraxia

A motor disorder caused by brain damage where a person has difficulty with the motor planning to perform tasks or movements when asked, despite understanding the request and having the willingness to perform the task.

Assessment

This is like a health check-up that looks at what a person can do and what they might need help with. It’s a regular part of making sure care is just right for someone with dementia.

B

Brain

It’s our command centre for thinking and feelings, controlling how we move and responding to what we touch, see, and hear. The brain has different parts that take care of different jobs.

C

Care Plan

This is a personal guide for long-term care, helping to set goals and steps for care, whether at home or in a care setting. It’s made with input from the person with dementia and their support circle and gets updated as needs change.

Cerebellum

The part of the brain at the back of the skull that coordinates and regulates muscular activity.

Challenging Behaviour

This term is used for actions that are tough to manage or could be harmful. It’s often a way for a person with dementia to show they need something, or are feeling something, they can’t put into words.

Cognition

All the mental processes that lead to thoughts, knowledge, and awareness, including memory, judgment, language, and reasoning.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)

A rare, degenerative, and fatal brain disorder that leads to rapid neurological decline.

Cueing

Giving little reminders to help someone with dementia remember things, start a task, or move through the steps of a task, helping them stay as independent as they can.

D

Delusion

A strong belief in something that’s not real, often based on a mix-up of facts or misunderstandings.

Dementia

It’s a general term for symptoms that show a decline in mental ability, like forgetfulness or trouble with thinking, which are caused by various brain disorders. Dementia touches everything from memory to language to personality.

Depression

A deep feeling of sadness or a sense that life isn’t worthwhile. It’s more than just a passing blue mood and can sometimes show up as physical or memory problems. It’s important to treat because it can sometimes look a lot like dementia.

Diagnosis

Figuring out what health condition someone has by looking at their symptoms and maybe doing some tests.

Dysarthria

A motor speech disorder where the muscles used for speech are weak or difficult to control, often resulting in slurred or slow speech that can be difficult to understand.

Dysphagia

Difficulty or discomfort in swallowing, which may occur in various stages of dementia.

Dysphasia

A language disorder marked by difficulty in expressing oneself verbally or understanding spoken or written language.

E

EEG (Electroencephalography)

This is a test that checks the electricity in the brain, which can help doctors see how the brain is working.

F

Frontal Lobe

The part of the brain located behind the forehead that is responsible for voluntary movement, expressive language, and other functions. It’s like the control panel for your personality, emotions, and how you make decisions.

FTD (Frontotemporal Dementia)

A rare type of dementia that affects the front and sides of the brain. It’s caused by progressive nerve cell loss in the brain’s frontal lobes or its temporal lobes. It can change how people behave and have trouble with language, but it doesn’t always affect memory at first.

G

GAIT

This is just a fancy way of talking about how someone walks. Some types of dementia can change a person’s walk, making it shuffle or slow down.

H

Hallucination

Seeing, hearing, or smelling things that aren’t there. It’s a mix-up in the brain that can happen with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Herbert Protocol

A proactive safety plan designed to assist the police in the event of a person with dementia, or other vulnerabilities, going missing. It comprises a form filled out in advance with important details about the individual, such as appearance, medical history, and places of significance, which can be quickly provided to authorities and emergency services to aid in a timely and effective search. Named after George Herbert, a war veteran with dementia who went missing, the protocol is a collaborative effort between police forces, care agencies, and families to ensure the quick location and safe return of at-risk individuals.

Hippocampus

A region of the brain that is associated with memory forming, organising, and storing.

History

A record of all the health and social details about a person. It’s like a story that helps caregivers give the best support to someone with dementia.

Huntington’s Disease

A rare inherited disease that causes uncontrolled movements and dementia. Symptoms usually start in middle age.

I

IADLs (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living)

These are tasks like managing money, shopping, and cooking that help a person manage their home and live on their own.

Incontinence

When a person can’t control their bladder or bowels. It’s common in later stages of dementia but should be checked by a doctor to rule out other treatable causes.

K

Korsakoff’s Syndrome

A chronic memory disorder caused by severe deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B-1), most commonly caused by alcohol misuse.

L

Level of Care

The type and amount of help a person with dementia needs, from a bit of support to full-time care.

Lewy Body Dementia

A type of dementia associated with abnormal protein deposits in the brain called Lewy bodies that affect cognition, behaviour, and movement. It can make people shaky, stiff, or have trouble moving. It also often comes with vivid dreams and seeing things that aren’t there.

Living Will

A document where someone says what kind of medical care they want or don’t want if they can’t make those choices later.

Long-Term Memory

Where the brain stores all the things we don’t want to forget, like big life events and important facts.

M

MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment)

When someone has a bit of trouble with memory or thinking but it’s not as serious as dementia.

MedicAlert

MedicAlert is the pioneering, and only, charity provider of life-saving medical IDs worldwide. First launched in Turlock, California, in 1956, MedicAlert came to the UK in 1964 and is currently based in Buckinghamshire, with a production unit creating bespoke medical ID jewellery and a member services team including in-house Registered Nurses to support around 42,000 members.

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)

A stage between the expected cognitive decline of normal aging and the more serious decline of dementia. It can involve problems with memory, language, thinking, and judgment.

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)

A machine that takes really detailed pictures of the inside of the body, including the brain, using magnets and a computer.

N

Neurodegenerative Disease

A term for a range of conditions that primarily affect the neurons in the human brain and include diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Neurology

The part of medicine that looks at the brain, spinal cord, and all the nerves that run through the body.

O

Occipital Lobe

The region at the back of the brain that processes visual information.

P

Paranoia

Feeling very suspicious or mistrustful of others without a clear reason.

Parietal Lobes

Regions of the brain located behind the frontal lobes that are involved in processing sensory information from various parts of the body, understanding spatial orientation, and navigation.

Parkinson’s Disease

A progressive nervous system disorder that mainly affects how a person moves, including tremors and stiff muscles. Some people with Parkinson’s also develop dementia.

Pathology

The branch of medicine that looks at diseases and how they affect the body’s functions, often by examining body tissues and organs.

Person-Centric Care

An approach to healthcare that consciously adopts the perspectives of individuals, families, and communities to ensure that health needs are addressed.

Perception

How the brain makes sense of all the things we see, hear, and feel. Good perception relies on connecting new information with what we already remember.

Person-Centred Care

This is a way of caring for people with dementia that sees the whole person, their life story, their likes and dislikes, and designs their care around them.

Pick’s Disease

A condition that affects the brain’s frontal and temporal lobes. It can change how people act and communicate and usually starts between the ages of 40 and 65.

Plaques and Tangles

In Alzheimer’s disease, these are like little roadblocks in the brain that stop signals from moving around properly, making it hard to remember and think.

Praxis

The ability to do intentional movements and actions.

Progressive

A term that means a disease will gradually get worse over time.

Psychosocial

This word links the psychological (mind) and social (relationships and environment) parts of a person’s world, especially when thinking about their needs and abilities.

Psychotropic Drugs

Medications that are designed to affect the brain and can change emotions and behaviour.

S

Sundowning Syndrome

When a person with dementia gets confused or upset late in the day. It’s not clear why this happens, but it might be due to tiredness or less light.

T

Temporal Lobes

Areas of the brain that process memories, integrating them with sensations of taste, sound, sight, and touch.

V

Vascular Dementia

A type of dementia caused by little strokes that might not be noticed but can lead to a step-by-step decline in thinking and remembering. It’s similar to heart disease and often happens with Alzheimer’s disease.

W

Wandering

When someone with dementia walks about, sometimes without a clear goal or direction, which might be because they need more activity or are feeling restless. It could also lead to the person with dementia getting lost.