What Is Dementia?

Dr. Sam Gandy answers the question: 'What Is Dementia?'

By
Samuel Gandy, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Director, Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center
November 19, 2008, 12:19 PM ET
1 min read

May 4, 2009 -- Question: What is dementia?

Answer: Dementia is a general term describing the loss of the ability to think. Another word for thinking is mentating or mentation. So the loss of the ability to think is known as dementia.

It's a general term. There are specific diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, that can cause dementia.