What is Psychology?

Answers to Your Psychology Questions

  • Disorders & Syndromes
  • Mental Health
  • Definitions
  • Love & Relationship
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Child Psychology

What Causes Dementia?

Broadly speaking, dementia is caused by the death of brain cells due to injury or disease, but there are many different types of dementia, all of which affect the brain in different ways, so what causes dementia and what are the different types of dementia?

As a BetterHelp affiliate, we may receive compensation if you purchase products or services through the links provided. This is done at no additional cost to you, and supports our work.

Find the right therapist for you

With over 25,000 licensed therapists, BetterHelp has one that fits your needs.
Therapists on BetterHelp are licensed, trained, experienced, and accredited psychologists (PhD / PsyD), licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFT), licensed clinical social workers (LCSW / LMSW), or licensed professional therapists (LPC).

What Causes Dementia?

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common causes of dementia. The disease causes a protein build up in the brain that slowly destroys brain cells.

Research has also shown that there is a shortage of neurotransmitter chemicals in the brains of those suffering the effects of Alzheimer’s disease.

Vascular dementia is the second most common cause of dementia and is usually caused by one major stroke, or many small “mini strokes”. This type of dementia occurs as a result of an interruption of blood supply to the brain—a lack of oxygenated blood causes brain cells to die in the affected area of the brain.

Dementia with Lewy bodies is very similar in characteristics to Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.

The name refers to the “Lewy bodies”, small protein deposits that cause disruptions to neurotransmitters in the brain.

Patients with Lewy bodies dementia may also go on to develop Parkinson’s disease as the two conditions present in very similar ways.

Korsakoff’s syndrome is a type of dementia caused by excessive alcohol consumption over a period of many years. Although not exactly a form of dementia, the effects of alcoholism cause dementia-like symptoms.

Fronto-temporal dementia is a rare form of dementia that includes dementia caused by Pick’s disease, motor neuron disease, and frontal lobe degeneration.

This type of dementia is caused by a gene abnormality and is normally inherited, although in rare cases, the disease is non-inherited and the cause is unknown.

Neimann-Pick disease type C is an inherited disease and is caused by a build up of cholesterol. It is most common in school-age children and there is currently no treatment or cure.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is caused by an infection that attacks the central nervous system and the brain. The infection causes proteins called “prions” to form abnormal clusters, which leads to spongiosis (holes) in the brain and the symptoms of dementia.

What Causes Dementia in Rarer Cases?

Dementia caused by Parkinson’s disease, CJD, Huntingdon’s disease and fronto-temporal dementia are all relatively rare, but another example of a rare form of dementia is Binswanger’s disease.

This type of dementia is thought to be associated with long-term hypertension, although the exact cause is as yet unknown.

Other Causes of Dementia

The symptoms of dementia can also appear as a result of brain injuries and brain tumors as well as a number of health problems including a vitamin B12 deficiency, an under-active thyroid, normal pressure hydrocephalus, multiple sclerosis, HIV-related cognitive impairment, and various learning difficulties.

It is very important to remember that the symptoms of dementia can have more than one underlying cause and even if a patient has one type of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease, they may also have another condition that is causing dementia related symptoms.

Related Articles:

  1. Is Dementia a Mental Illness? Is dementia a mental illness? When you think about the symptoms of dementia, it would be very easy to classify dementia as a mental illness, but unlike conditions such as schizophrenia and bi-polar, dementia is not an actual disease as such—rather it is a term that refers to a series...
  2. What is Louie Body Dementia? What is Louie Body Dementia? Louie Body dementia is an alternative spelling of Lewy Body Dementia, a type of dementia commonly associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. In fact, because the symptoms between both of these diseases and Lewy Body dementia are so similar, some doctors are uncertain as to...
  3. Types of Dementia List Dementia is the broad name for a number of different diseases or conditions affecting the brain, all of which are characterized by memory loss, problems with reasoning, depression, confusion and anxiety. Many people associate dementia with old age, but in fact there are many different types of dementia, as can...
  4. What is the Difference Between Dementia and Alzheimers? What is the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s? For those who know nothing about either condition, this is a common question and it is not unusual for either term to be used when describing an elderly person suffering from mental confusion, but there is in fact a difference between dementia...
  5. Is Dementia hereditary? If several members of your family have developed the disease, you might be asking yourself is dementia hereditary? Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer as it very much depends on what the root cause of the dementia is. There are several different causes of Dementia. Some are known to be...

Filed Under: Disorders & Syndromes Tagged With: Dementia Causes, Dementia Disease

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Topics

  • Disorders & Syndromes
  • Drugs & Addiction
  • Mental Health
    • Fear & Anxiety
  • Neuroscience
    • Attention & Concentration
    • Memory
    • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
    • Animals
    • Behavior
    • Child Psychology
    • Definitions
    • Education
    • Experimental Psychology
    • Famous Psychologists
    • Gender Difference
    • Language & Communication
    • Love & Relationship
    • Nutrition
    • Popular Psychology
  • Therapy

Recent Posts

What is Alzheimer’s Disease?

Why Do People Cut Themselves?

Can You Learn While You Sleep?

Is Herpes Linked to Dementia?

Stay updated on Facebook Follow WhatisPsychology on Twitter

Affiliate Links – Advertising Disclosure

If you purchase a product or service linked from this site, we may receive an "affiliate commission". We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising" and also in accordance to amazon associates programme operating agreement.

Amazon
The owner of this website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

Copyright © · What is Psychology? · Privacy Policy · About · Archives · Contact us