{"id":1003799,"date":"2021-10-20T11:49:05","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T16:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/?p=1003799"},"modified":"2021-10-20T11:49:05","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T16:49:05","slug":"how-mental-illness-can-mask-itself-as-dementia-or-alzheimers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/2021\/10\/20\/how-mental-illness-can-mask-itself-as-dementia-or-alzheimers\/","title":{"rendered":"How mental illness can mask itself as Dementia or Alzheimer\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Mental illness in older adults is often overlooked and therefore goes untreated. Differentiating mental illness from dementia can be hard, due to the many overlapping signs and symptoms. More specifically, Dementia and Depression both can present as loss of interest in normal hobbies, withdrawal from social events\/activities, forgetfulness, change in sleeping habits, difficulty in concentration, intense depressive mood, agitation\/irritability, fatigue, etc.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">About one fifth of adults aged 55 or older have experienced some type of mental health concern, but sadly most of them have not received any treatment for it.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pavilionwp.com\/Dementia-versus-Mental-Illness-in-Seniors\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/pavilionwp.com\/Dementia-versus-Mental-Illness-in-Seniors<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dementia:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is a term used to categorize a group of symptoms that affects an individual&#8217;s memory.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These symptoms include: <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1003442 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/files\/2020\/09\/2012-28-Years-Strong-bwkee1-2-300x227.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"207\" height=\"157\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Forgetfulness and memory loss<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Communication difficulty&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Visual and spatial deficiency&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reasoning and problem-solving difficulties&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Difficulty in motor functioning and coordination&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Disorientation (confusion)&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Dementia can mask underlying mental illness thus making it difficult to diagnose an individual, and\/or notice a change in an individual. The overlap in symptoms can lead to a misdiagnosis, so it is important to receive not only a psychological evaluation, but a comprehensive physical examination as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Depression: is a medical illness that negatively affects the way an individual feels, thinks, and acts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Symptoms can include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Feeling down or sad<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Changes in appetite&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lack of sleep, or sleeping too much<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Feelings of worthlessness or guilty conscious<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Difficulties in concentrating and thinking&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thoughts of death and\/or suicide&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&nbsp; &nbsp; <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1003690 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/files\/2021\/03\/01-Mimi-Kendyl-Rogers-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"120\" height=\"180\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; It is important to note that the, \u201crates of clinical depression vary across ethnic groups, although correct diagnosis is frequently a problem with minorities due to inadequate access to physical and mental health care\u201d (Algeri`a et al., 2008; National Institute of Mental Health, 2016a). Rates of clinical depression also vary situationally, \u201cless than 5% of older adults living in the community show signs of depression, but the percentage rises to over 13% among those who require home health care (National Institute of mental health, 2016a).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pathwayshealth.org\/hospice-topics\/depression-and-dementia-similarities-and-differences\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/pathwayshealth.org\/hospice-topics\/depression-and-dementia-similarities-and-differences\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pathwayshealth.org\/hospice-topics\/depression-and-dementia-similarities-and-differences\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/pathwayshealth.org\/hospice-topics\/depression-and-dementia-similarities-and-differences\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/dementia\/symptoms-causes\/syc-20352013\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/dementia\/symptoms-causes\/syc-20352013<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychiatry.org\/patients-families\/depression\/what-is-depression\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/www.psychiatry.org\/patients-families\/depression\/what-is-depression<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Mental illness in older adults is often overlooked and therefore goes untreated. Differentiating mental illness from dementia can be hard, due to the many overlapping signs and symptoms. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19550,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1003799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19550"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1003799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1003800,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003799\/revisions\/1003800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1003799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1003799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/pruettgerontology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1003799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}