Interplay with Society

People with dementia are very different. Even if they are suffering from the same disease, such as Alzheimer's disease. But we have a tendency to think of dementia as one specific "thing" that we have come to know. We sometimes forget that people with dementia are less affected by the disease during the first few years and that the person will not be seriously affected until late in the course.

The course of the dementia involves an interplay between the individual and society. Diseases that cause dementia damage the brain in different ways in different people. The person's general health, personality, life history and social circumstances are factors which - together with the damage to the brain  - shape the individual's course of the disease.