The key difference between amnesia dementia and Alzheimer’s is that amnesia is associated with permanent loss of memory, while dementia is associated with memory loss that disturbs everyday activities, and Alzheimer’s is mainly associated with short-term memory loss.
Mental illness is common among people. Mental illnesses disrupt behavioural, thinking, and emotional functions and interfere with major life tasks. Memory loss is a common sign of mental illness. This is caused due to several reasons. Amnesia and dementia are two common conditions or mental ailments. Alzheimer’s is considered a degenerative brain disease.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Amnesia
3. What is Dementia
4. What is Alzheimer’s
5. Similarities – Amnesia Dementia and Alzheimer’s
6. Amnesia vs Dementia vs Alzheimer’s in Tabular Form
7. Summary – Amnesia vs Dementia vs Alzheimer’s
What is Amnesia?
Amnesia is the loss of memory. It involves forgetting facts such as information and past experiences. It is caused due to damage in memory processing areas of the brain. The condition is caused by damage to brain structures that form the limbic system that controls emotions and memories. Such structures include the thalamus located deep within the centre of the brain and hippocampal formations within temporal lobes.
Amnesia is mostly permanent, and there is no specific treatment for this condition. The main features of amnesia are having trouble learning new information and remembering past events and information. The most common problem with amnesia is a problem with short-term memory. Therefore, recent memories are most likely lost; however, deeply ingrained memories remain. Amnesia does not affect the intelligence, knowledge, attention span, or awareness of people. Depending on the cause, amnesia also misplaces real memories with time or causes false memories that are invented and cause disorientation or confusion. Problems causing amnesia are stroke, inflammations in the brain, insufficient oxygen supply to the brain, lack of vitamin B1 due to high consumption of alcohol, tumours, Alzheimer’s disease, seizures, and certain medicines. Less consumption of alcohol, prevention of head injuries, and immediate treatment for infections, stroke, and other complications in the brain are some of the preventive measures for this condition.
What is Dementia?
Dementia refers to the impaired ability to remember, make decisions, and think while engaging in everyday activities. Symptoms of dementia include having problems with attention, memory, communication issues, problems with reasoning, problem-solving, and visual perception with age-related changes in vision. This condition usually increases with age, where most cases are those 65 years or older. Family history, poor heart health, ethnicity, and traumatic brain injuries also affect dementia.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. Other common types of dementia are vascular dementia, lewy body dementia, fronto-temporal dementia, and mixed dementia. Vascular dementia is associated with strokes and other issues with blood flow to the brain. Lewy body dementia has problems associated with movement and balance and also shows memory loss and hallucinations. Fronto-temporal dementia leads to changes in behaviour and personality and problematic language skills. Mixed dementia occurs when more than two types are present, and it is common in people aged 80 years and older.
Dementia does not have a cure. However, medication helps to protect the brain and manage symptoms such as behavioural changes and anxiety. A healthy lifestyle that includes healthy eating, regular exercise, and maintaining social contacts helps to decrease chronic diseases, thereby reducing the risk of getting dementia.
What is Alzheimer’s?
Alzheimer’s is a progressive neurological disorder that causes a shrinking of the brain (atrophy) and causes brain cells to die. It is the most common type of dementia. This condition declines the thinking, behavioural and social skills and affects the independent function of a person. Early signs of Alzheimer’s include forgetting recent activities or conversations, and with the progress of the disease, severe memory impairment is caused. This makes a person lose the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.
Symptoms of Alzheimer’s include occasional memory lapses that affect the ability to function independently, thinking and reasoning difficulties that disturb concentration and multitasking, inability to make judgments and decisions in everyday activities, difficulties in planning and performing familiar tasks, and changes in personality and behaviour such as depression, mood swings, irritability, social withdrawal, delusions, aggressiveness, apathy, wandering, changes in sleeping habits, and loss of inhibitions. There is no specific treatment for Alzheimer’s, but medications temporarily improve and control the symptoms. Advanced stages of Alzheimer’s cause complications resulting in severe loss of brain function. It eventually results in death.
What are the Similarities Between Amnesia Dementia and Alzheimer’s?
- Amnesia, dementia, and Alzheimer’s are caused by an abnormality or damage to the brain.
- All have the key symptom of memory loss.
- All have problems with behaviour and carrying out everyday tasks independently.
- Moreover, there is no cure for all the conditions.
- Amnesia, dementia, and Alzheimer’s are non-communicable diseases.
- Medications control the severity of these diseases and reduce complications, and control symptoms.
What is the Difference Between Amnesia Dementia and Alzheimer’s?
Amnesia is associated with permanent loss of memory, whereas dementia includes memory loss while disturbing everyday activities, and Alzheimer’s includes mainly short-term memory loss. Thus, this is the key difference between amnesia dementia and Alzheimer’s. Furthermore, amnesia usually can initiate from childhood to old age, while dementia is observed after 65 years, and Alzheimer’s can occur in the mid-60s.
The below infographic presents the differences between amnesia dementia and Alzheimer’s in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Amnesia vs Dementia vs Alzheimer’s
Amnesia, dementia, and Alzheimer’s are three mental disorders associated with an abnormality or damage to the brain. Amnesia refers to the loss of memory of facts such as information and past experiences. It is mainly caused by damage in memory processing areas and the limbic system that controls emotions and memories of the brain. Dementia is the impaired ability to remember, make decisions and think while engaging in everyday activities. It is mainly caused by a stroke, infections affecting the brain, serious head injuries, and insufficient oxygen supply to the brain. Alzheimer’s is a progressive neurological disorder that causes a shrinking of the brain and causes brain cells to die. It is usually a result of an abnormal build-up of proteins in and around the brain. So, this summarizes the difference between amnesia dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Reference:
1. “Alzheimer’s Disease.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 19 Feb. 2022.
2. “Amnesia.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 18 Nov. 2022.
3. “What Is Dementia?” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5 Apr. 2019.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Brain Inflammation from Alzheimer’s Disease” By NIH Image Gallery (CC BY-NC 2.0) via Flickr
2. “Dementia – The causes of dementia” By Number 10 (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Flickr
3. “1511 The Limbic Lobe” By OpenStax College – Anatomy & Physiology, Connexions Web site, Jun 19, 2013. (CC BY 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia