Gustafson L
Department of Psychogeriatrics, University of Lund, Sweden.
Acta Neurol Scand Suppl. 1996;168:22-4. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0404.1996.tb00367.x.
Dementia is a descriptive term derived from the Latin root de mens, indicating an observable decline in mental abilities. It is an acquired clinical syndrome characterised by deterioration of mental functioning in its cognitive, emotional and conative aspects. The concept is comprehensive with several different clinical profiles and courses. The diagnosis of dementia implies that several mental faculties are involved and exclude isolated neuropsychiatric disturbances such as amnesia and aphasia which occur with focal brain lesions. Description and classification of dementia conditions have however to deal with the problem that the word "dementia" might have different meanings in different contexts. It might denote a clinical syndrome irrespective of etiology, but also imply that the etiology of this syndrome is brain dysfunction. Moreover, the term dementia is sometimes used in a wider sense to describe the underlying brain disease from its early subtle manifestations to advanced stages of severe deterioration. By definition this deterioration previously was progressive and irreversible with little hope for the patient. Clinical experience however has changed our views, and it is now accepted that the course of dementia can be progressive, static or remittent.
痴呆是一个源于拉丁词根“de mens”的描述性术语，表明精神能力出现可观察到的衰退。它是一种后天获得的临床综合征，其特征是在认知、情感和意动方面的心理功能恶化。这一概念涵盖了几种不同的临床特征和病程。痴呆的诊断意味着多个心理官能受到影响，排除了诸如与局灶性脑损伤相关的失忆和失语等孤立的神经精神障碍。然而，痴呆症的描述和分类必须应对这样一个问题，即“痴呆”一词在不同语境中可能有不同含义。它可能表示一种临床综合征，而不考虑病因，但也意味着该综合征的病因是脑功能障碍。此外，“痴呆”一词有时在更广泛的意义上用于描述潜在的脑部疾病，从其早期细微表现到严重恶化的晚期阶段。根据定义，这种恶化以前是进行性且不可逆的，患者几乎没有希望。然而，临床经验改变了我们的看法，现在人们已经认识到痴呆的病程可以是进行性、静止性或缓解性的。
