Philippe Pinel, a French doctor who lived in the second half of the eighteenth century and who is often considered as the father of modern psychiatry.
He described dementia as ‘a disintegration of reason, which was reminiscent of the childish inanity of old age’.
The word dementia comes from Latin demens which literally means ‘without mind’. The ancient Greeks and Romans described symptoms similar to those of Alzheimer’s disease. The Greeks, including Plato, recognized it as an abnormal condition of old age.
Senile atrophy of the brain was noted in the first century BC and sclerotic plaques in the brains of demented elderly patients have been noted many years before the description of Alzheimer.
By the year 1800, two definitions of dementia were recognized, both having psychosocial incompetence as their central concept.
However, it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that dementia of early onset became recognized as a specific medical entity.
In 1907 Dr Alois Alzheimer published a paper identifying a cluster of symptoms of dementia. This included reduced comprehension and memory, disorientation, unpredictable behavior and difficulties with communication.
History of dementia
