is "dementia" the same as "mental degeneration"?

Question

What causes this?
would this make someone in their 30's behave and think like a child?
I think I read in some book one time, that if a person did not have a "identity" by the time they were a certain age that it causes them to revert back, is this the case?
What causes "dementia"? what is it?

DOES BEING ALONE CAUSE IT?
LIKE IN THE TOM HANKS MOVIE "CASTAWAY"?

WHAT ARE SYMPTOMS?

Answer 1

Do you know you asked this a minute ago? Oops, sorry.

Answer 2

The term, "degeneration", implies that brain cells are dying.

Maybe the term for the person you describe would be "mental deterioration", which more applies to mental functioning.

"Dementia" is usually associated with Alzheimer's Disease, even if the disease starts early in life (the forties, for example), but it is the term used when a person is elderly and sick and may have had enough loss of mental functioning for any number of reasons to cause him/her to lose memory and/or touch with reality to one degree of another.

With regard to a person who behaves "like a child" what may cause that (and whether they are, in fact, really behaving like a child at all) isn't easy to say because it depends on what exactly they are doing. It could be something like a person's reaching a certain level of maturity and reallizing that he/she doesn't have to worry about acting like a grown-up all the time just to prove how grown-up he/she is. On the other hand, if its something like being afraid of the dark and losing the control an adult would have doing something like eating or drinking then that would be a sign of mental illness or possibly substance abuse.

Sometimes a person who has had a lot of responsibility and sadness in their life when they were young he or she may just decide to try to have a little silliness in life once they're out of the all the sadness. They can feel that they've missed youth.

Sometimes, too, though, one person's idea of behaving like a child or thinking like a child is only that person's opinion because he/she may not understand the reasoning behind the other person's choice to act or think a certain way. Some people just choose not to stop doing some things because they are grown-ups. They may value keeping a few thoughts or behaviors that are still young-at-heart.

Sometimes spouses think the other spouse is acting like a child when its just a matter of one spouse having a view of what "mature" ought to be. When wives think their husbands act like children they often just attribute it to "being a big kid". When husbands believe their wives are acting like children they tend to think their wife has mental illness.

Sometimes behavior that is seen as childish is actually a sign that a person is very alive and has a lot of spirit. It can be a sign of intelligence and well adjustedness while having no behavior that it at all childlike can mean a person has had a rough life that knocked the spirit out of him/her or that he/she does not have the range of personality that some other people do.

Sometimes people act like a child to make others laugh (especially their own children). I'm a pretty mature and refined person, but one time I worked where the department secretary was very young and stiff-acting to the point of seeming like she needed a good laugh. I shocked her by calling her name and when she looked I licked the lid of a yogurt I had just to shock her, coming from someone as refined as I. The person who doesn't "get" a joke can misinterpret the behavior of others.

Sometimes, too, if the people around a person treat them as if they're a child or as if they don't understand why they do some things, the person will actually react in a way that seems like they're a rebellious child because they are pushed into that behavior rather than accepting being treated as a child.

Sometimes a person will try to act like a child to make children around him/her feel more comfortable. Sometimes people will do it because they live with someone who is so dour and down they think it will lift the mood.

If the person in question stops taking care of hygiene, stops being able to take care of his/her belongings and house, stops eating or binge eats, and/or becomes sullen it can be a sign of depression or more serious mental illness.

Above are some things that could explain behaving and thinking like a child (or PERCEIVING what appears to you as behaving and thinking like a child). Without more details its not possible to really get a better idea of what could be at the root of what you perceive.

Be very careful, though. Some people are awfully quick to start believing that someone else has mental problems or has "reverted" just because they don't understand that other person.

Answer 3

Dementia is a global term for a number of psychological ailments. It is a degradation of cognitive functioning and can be caused by brain damage induce by stroke/aneurism, alzheimers, parkinsons or any other number of problems. See the link provided for further information. There is treatment for alot of dementia patients.

Answer 4

Take this person to medical doctor for referral and proper care.
It would be hard to determine the cause of dementia when the only symptoms are childlike behavior in someone in their 30's.
More information is needed.
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Aside from Alzheimer’s disease, other dementias exist such as Dementia with lewy body, Vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease with dementia, and dementias due to various neurologic and medical conditions.
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source: emedicinehealth.com
Dementia has many different causes, some of which are difficult to tell apart. Many medical conditions can cause dementia symptoms, especially in older people.
The causes of dementia include various diseases and infections, strokes, head injuries, drugs, and nutritional deficiencies.