Block 9: Confusion, Dementia, and Alzheimer's Disease Flashcards
Agitation
The state of being excited, restless or troubled.
Alzheimer’s Disease
A progressive, incurable disease that causes tangled nerve fibers and protein deposits to form in the brain, eventually causing dementia.
Anxiety
Uneasiness or fear, often about a situation or condition.
Bipolar Disorder
A type of depression that causes a person to swing from periods of deep depression to periods of extreme activity; also called manic-depressive illness.
Catastrophic Reaction
Reacting to something in an unreasonable, exaggerated way.
Cognition
The ability to think logically and clearly.
Cognitive Impairment
Loss of ability to think logically; concentration and memory are affected.
Confusion
The inability to think clearly.
De-escalation
Refers to behavior that is intended to escape escalations of conflicts. It may also refer to approaches in conflict resolution.
Delirium
A state of severe confusion that occurs suddenly and is usually temporary.
Delusions
False ideas or beliefs, especially about oneself.
Dementia
The serious loss of mental abilities, such as thinking, remembering, reasoning, and communicating.
Depression
Feelings of severe despondency and dejection.
Hallucinations
Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or feeling things that are not there.
Mania
Mental illness marked by periods of great excitement, euphoria, delusions, and overactivity.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Anxiety disorder characterized by obsessive behavior or thoughts.
Parkinson’s Disease
A progressive disease of the nervous system marked by tremor, muscular rigidity, and slow, imprecise movement, chiefly affecting middle-aged and elderly people.
Phobia
An intense form of anxiety or fear.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
A mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
Re-direction
A disease or condition that will eventually lead to death.
Schizophrenia
A form of mental illness that affects a person’s ability to think, communicate, make decisions, and understand reality.
Stress
The state of being frightened, excited, confused, in danger, or irritated.
Suicide
Taking one’s own life.
Sundowning
Becoming restless and agitated in the late afternoon, evening, or night.
Triggers
Is something that sets off a memory tape or flashback transporting the person back to the event of her/his original trauma.
Validating
A technique used for interacting with people with dementia in which the caregiver acknowledges the person’s reality; rather than correcting the person.
Autism
A mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concept.
