Difference Between Dementia and Alzheimer’s

You often see these two terms together and think that they are interchangeable, but contrary to what many people think, there IS a difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s. The easiest way to explain the difference between these two medical terms is that Alzheimers is the disease or disorder, and dementia is only one of its symptoms. Dementia in itself is not a disease, while Alzheimers is only one of several disorders or conditions that can cause dementia. For example: dementia is to Alzheimers, as back pain is to spinal injury or sciatica.

What is Alzheimers?

Alzheimer’s disease is a condition that typically develops in, and affects, older people. It is the single, most popular cause of dementia, although those who have Alzheimer’s also exhibit other symptoms like moodiness / erratic mood swings, difficulties in communicating, and problems with reasoning. Here you see the clear difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s; the latter is just one of the effects or symptoms of Alzheimers, while the former is the cause, and can bring about conditional symptoms aside from dementia.

What is Dementia?

Dementia is the state or condition that typically occurs not just as a result of Alzheimer’s, but also of other causes like Parkinson’s disease or severe strokes. It can be better understood as a manifestation or symptom of any mental disease that affects the areas of the brain that control memory, logic and reasoning, among many others. A lot of people mistakenly interchange dementia and Alzheimer’s because the latter is by far the most popular mental disease that’s directly associated with dementia.