Luis D. Medina, Y. Rodríguez Agudelo
Dementia, a word that perhaps originated in the 19th century from a Latin word meaning “madness” or being “out of one’s mind,” has long been misunderstood. Originally confused with symptoms now understood to be related to schizophrenia and later incorrectly thought of as being a “normal” occurrence in aging, dementia as a clinical entity is now conceptualized as a syndrome of multiple possible causes that affects one’s memory, thinking, behavior, and overall daily function (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2010).