Dementia

During the not so distant past it was believed madness resulted when someone's soul became sick due to demonic possession. Later; the enlightenment age recognized insanity as a malady. When the insane could no longer be cared for at home, they were placed in insane asylums where their treatment was barbaric. Are things different today? One need only visit a "lock-in" mental health facility to find out. Today, dementia is the umbrella word mostly settled upon to mean a "wasting away" of the human mind. At some level, dementia lies in wait inside everyone and will manifest as surely as the sun rises every morning. To what degree dementia expresses itself depends on one's genetic disposition, or nature; some people remain lucid and retain a sunny personality into old age.