Myth #1: Dementia and Alzheimer's disease are the same thing

Fact: Dementia is not a specific disease itself; rather, the term refers to a group of symptoms that can be caused by several different brain disorders. Dementia is characterized by impaired intellectual functioning such as memory loss, language difficulty, decreased perception, and impaired reasoning. Alzheimer's disease is just one of many types of dementia though it does account for between 60 to 80% of all cases of dementia.

Another difference between dementia and Alzheimer's disease is that Alzhemier's is degenerative and there is currently no cure. On the other hand, depending on the cause of the dementia, such as drug interactions or a vitamin deficiency, the symptoms of some types of dementia may be reversible.