Early Stages of Dementia

Stages of Dementia: Stage I – VII

Over 350 thousand Americans now have dementia.

strong>Dementia is a deterioration of mental processes including loss of cognitive functioning, memory loss and eventual loss of physical functioning. The Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) is a method of identifying and categorizing the stages of dementia.

Early Stages of Dementia

Stage 1
This is the stage of normal functioning where there is no evident impairment in memory, cognition or function.
Stage 2
Symptoms of stage 2 dementia indicate a very mild decline, mostly with cognitive impairment and will not likely be evident to others.  The symptoms may indicate normal aging process or earliest signs of dementia.  Common symptoms include:

• memory lapses
• forgetting names or words
• misplacing everyday objects such as keys or eyeglasses

Stage 3
Dementia stage 3 shows a mild decline also primarily with cognitive impairment.  At this point persons close to the patient may begin to notice signs and dementia may be diagnosed in some individuals at this time as memory and concentration loss is measurable during detailed medical interview.  Symptoms of this stage of dementia include:

• word and name finding problems
• decreased short term memory such as when meeting new people or reading
• performance issues in work or social setting
• losing valuable or important objects
• decreased ability to plan and organize