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Is Dementia Caused by Depression?

What is Dementia?

Dementia is a brain disorder that causes permanent loss of memory or other cognitive functions such as personality or daily functioning. Dementia can either be progressive, such as in Alzheimer's disease, or may remain stable, as can be seen after a stroke or head injury. It is a problem of the brain that makes it difficult for a person to remember, learn and communicate. After time, this makes it hard for the person to take care of himself or herself.

The top ten symptoms of dementia include:

1. Memory loss
2. Difficulty performing tasks
3. Problems with language
4. Disorientation to time and place
5. Poor or decreased judgment
6. Problems with abstract thinking
7. Misplacing things
8. Change in mood or behavior
9. Personality changes
10. Loss of initiation

What is Depression?

Depression is a type of mental disorder which affects a person’s mood. Depression is the most common mental illness in the United States. It seems to be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain that makes it difficult for cells to communicate.

We all have days when we are not feeling our best, however those suffering from depression have depressive symptoms for at least two consecutive weeks that begin to interfere with daily functioning.

Common Symptoms of Depression Include:

• Loss of appetite
• Sleeping too much or having difficulty sleeping
• Unintended weight gain
• Having trouble concentrating or making decisions
• Experiencing aches and pains that don’t get better with treatment
• Thoughts of death or suicide
• Feelings of sadness, guilt, hopelessness or helplessness
• Frequent crying spell
• Having aches and pains that don’t respond to treatment

How are Dementia and Depression related?

Some of the symptoms of depression are very similar to those of dementia – this can make it difficult to discover a person with dementia is also experiencing dementia. Very often the depression will heighten the symptoms of dementia making it even more difficult for the person to explain and communicate his/her feelings.
Differences in symptoms between depression and dementia are as follows:

• Even with severe depression, impairments typical of dementia (speech, reasoning, awareness of time and space) are unusual. In a person with dementia these abilities are likely to be affected.
• In a case of severe depression, reasoning and memory can be impaired – this can make it easily confused with dementia. However, in depression this is mainly due to a lack of concentration which may subside with treatment.
• A depressed person may have difficulties remembering things, but will recall if reminded of certain details. A person with dementia will have memory difficulties that he/she will very often try to mask.

The Causes of Dementia

Dementia is most often caused by damage or changes to the brain such as head injury, stroke, tumors, Parkinson’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, dementia with Lewy Bodies and long-term alcohol dependence. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia followed by stroke, also known as vascular dementia.

Some less common causes of dementia include infections like mad cow disease and late-stage syphilis, vascular dementia caused by people with long-term high blood pressure or severe hardening of the arteries, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and/or Huntington’s disease. These causes of dementia can often be treated by a physician.

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