Is a change in character a symptom of dementia?

Changes of character in the context of dementia are a common phenomenon and are often experienced as very stressful by the relatives of those affected. Many patients show severe behavioral disorders during the course of the disease. This ranges from sudden mood swings to distrust of relatives to aggressive behavior and loss of control.

Especially for the relatives it is terrible to see how a loved one changes in such a way. As a relative, you must therefore be aware that the personality of a person is also stored in his or her brain. If the nerve cells in the corresponding brain regions die or are damaged, the personality changes.

This is an organic process. It has been quite well researched in the case of Pick’s disease or fronto-temporal dementia. Here, changes in personality are the typical symptom.

The memory often remains intact even longer. However, patients are easily irritable, quickly aggressive and behave very tactlessly towards their relatives. However, this is due to the changes in the brain caused by dementia.

In Alzheimer’s dementia, changes in character are also an expression of the disease. The character is the nature of a person. Dementia causes a continuous destruction of nerve cells in the brain.

If regions of the brain that are responsible for personality and character are affected by the disintegration, the disease causes a change in character. Therefore, the behavior of dementia patients (even in the case of incipient dementia) cannot be measured by the standards of healthy people. The character and personality traits slowly disappear due to the disease.This means that behavior that is often experienced as malicious by the relatives does not necessarily correspond to the character of the patient, but is often seen as an expression of the disease.

Depression as a symptom of dementia

Dementia and depression are two closely related diseases. Both increase with age. Both diseases also lead to mental functional limitations.

In contrast to dementia, however, depression can often be treated very well. So-called antidepressants are used as mood enhancers. If pure depression is the cause of reduced retentiveness, memory performance can increase significantly again after treatment of the depression.

Unfortunately, dementia is a process that tends to get worse and worse. Especially in the early stages, patients notice that they are changing, that they can no longer cope with everyday problems. This can often lead to depressive moods.

In this respect, depressions are often accompanying symptoms of dementia. The concentration of neurotransmitters in the brain can also be altered by dementia, so in the early stages of dementia, antidepressants that influence the concentration of neurotransmitters in the brain are also useful. The choice of an antidepressant should be carefully considered, as there are classes of medication that, through their effect, worsen dementia.