Mental Capacity
Cognitive Abilities as we Age
As humans grow older cognition is a driving factor for our health and mortality. How we think and process our feelings can determine so much about our lives. Whether looking at dementia, depression or overall IQ, it is important to learn how we age. This can be used to learn how we can provide more research on the aging mind.
Depression and Dementia
Research in the article Cognitive Performance and Functional Competence in Coexisting Dementia and Depression measures "the intellectual and cognitive status of those with senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type and SDAT in combination with depression" (Breen).
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The study concluded that depression does not contribute to the decline of memory and cognition. It shows that measures of cognitive testing is not a valid examination of depressed versus non depressed patients with dementia. However, it can be useful to differentiate the different forms of dementia. The research supports that future studies should incorporate “both intellectual abilities and functional competence” in depression for dementia patients.This study shows that depression does not lessen the detriments of this dementia.
Mental Conditions in Age
The majority of age related deterioration of the elderly is caused by “pathological conditions” which need to be more researched. It is explained that cognition in the elderly needs to be taken more seriously as these “pathological conditions” can be treated when we test for cognition. Some examples of these conditions include:
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Dementia
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Alzheimer's Disease
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Parkinson's Disease
In order to decline the mortality rate more research is needed to prevent these diseases from declining mental capacity as we age. For more information about mental deterioration in elderly populations see this article, Mental Decline in Normal Aging: A Review.
References
Keep in mind these articles merely address current topics on cognition in the elderly. This is a growing subject that needs more research to truly understand the mind as we get older.
Breen, Larson, E. B., Reifler, B. V., Vitaliano, P. P., & Lawrence, G. L. (1984). Cognitive Performance and Functional Competence in Coexisting Dementia and Depression. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS), 32(2), 132–137. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.1984.tb05854.x
Rinn. (1988). Mental Decline in Normal Aging: A Review. Topics in Geriatrics, 1(3), 144–158. https://doi.org/10.1177/089198878800100304