Differentiation

Those with dementia, depression and acute confusion share similar memory problems. Yet these are different disorders. Acute confusion is a fairly urgent medical condition that must be treated immediately to prevent serious consequences. Depression, on the other hand, does not involve such temporal urgency but can be effectively treated by medication. It is therefore important to distinguish between the conditions. The table below outlines the key differences between these conditions. One needs to be aware that these conditions can co-exist. Therefore, you need to consult your doctor immediately if you have any queries.

	Dementia	Depression	Acute Confusion
Onset	Gradual	Variable	A few days or weeks
Presentation	Depressive symptoms occur later	Usually not present	Anxious rather than depressed
Hallucination & paranoia	May or may not be present	May or may not be present	Prominent
Affect/Feelings	Apathy	Depressed	Anxious & fearful
Complaints	Person often denies having any memory problems	Person may complain more than the family about his/her memory problem	Variable awareness of memory problems
Conscious level	Conscious	Conscious	Marked contrast in levels of awareness from time to time
Cognitive impairment	Consistent	Inconsistent	Variable even within a day
Responses to tests of memory	May provide vague or general answer; poor awareness of memory impairments	Would be able to say “I don’t know or I can’t remember”	Intellect is preserved if consciousness is not clouded.
Treatment by antidepressant	No response	Respond to drug therapy	No response

If you would like to know how to differentiate dementia from normal forgetfulness, and the process involved in verifying dementia, please visit the section entitled "Are you concerned?"