Dementia is the general name for a decline in cognitive abilities that impacts a person's ability to perform everyday activities. This typically involves problems with memory, thinking, and behavior. Aside from memory impairment and a disruption in thought patterns, the most common symptoms include emotional problems, difficulties with language, and decreased motivation. The symptoms may be described as occurring in a continuum over several stages. Dementia ultimately has a significant effect on the individual, caregivers, and on social relationships in general. A diagnosis of dementia requires the observation of a change from a person's usual mental functioning and a greater cognitive decline than what is caused by normal aging.
The Delft University of Technology is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022, it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among the top 10 Engineering and Technology universities in the world. In 2023, it was ranked 2nd in the world in civil engineering, 3rd in the world in mechanical and aerospace engineering, and 3rd in the world in architecture.
Delirium is a specific state of acute confusion attributable to the direct physiological consequence of a medical condition, effects of a psychoactive substance, or multiple causes, which usually develops over the course of hours to days. As a syndrome, delirium presents with disturbances in attention, awareness, and higher-order cognition. People with delirium may experience other neuropsychiatric disturbances, including changes in psychomotor activity, disrupted sleep-wake cycle, emotional disturbances, disturbances of consciousness, or, altered state of consciousness, as well as perceptual disturbances, although these features are not required for diagnosis.
Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a type of dementia characterized by changes in sleep, behavior, cognition, movement, and regulation of automatic bodily functions. Memory loss is not always an early symptom. The disease worsens over time and is usually diagnosed when cognitive impairment interferes with normal daily functioning. Together with Parkinson's disease dementia, DLB is one of the two Lewy body dementias. It is a common form of dementia, but the prevalence is not known accurately and many diagnoses are missed. The disease was first described by Kenji Kosaka in 1976.
Vascular dementia (VaD) is dementia caused by problems in the blood supply to the brain, resulting from a cerebrovascular disease. Restricted blood supply (ischemia) leads to cell and tissue death in the affected region, known as an infarct. The three types of vascular dementia are subcortical vascular dementia, multi-infarct dementia, and stroke related dementia. Subcortical vascular dementia is brought about by damage to the small blood vessels in the brain. Multi-infarct dementia is brought about by a series of mini-strokes where many regions have been affected. The third type is stroke related where more serious damage may result. Such damage leads to varying levels of cognitive decline. When caused by mini-strokes, the decline in cognition is gradual. When due to a stroke, the cognitive decline can be traced back to the event.
In psychology, alogia is poor thinking inferred from speech and language usage. There may be a general lack of additional, unprompted content seen in normal speech, so replies to questions may be brief and concrete, with less spontaneous speech. This is termed poverty of speech or laconic speech. The amount of speech may be normal but conveys little information because it is vague, empty, stereotyped, overconcrete, overabstract, or repetitive. This is termed poverty of content or poverty of content of speech. Under Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms used in clinical research, thought blocking is considered a part of alogia, and so is increased latency in response.
Apathy is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern about something. It is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation, or passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of interest in or concern about emotional, social, spiritual, philosophical, virtual, or physical life and the world. Apathy can also be defined as a person's lack of goal orientation. Apathy falls in the less extreme spectrum of diminished motivation, with abulia in the middle and akinetic mutism being more extreme than both apathy and abulia.
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), frontotemporal degeneration disease, or frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder encompasses several types of dementia involving the progressive degeneration of the brain's frontal and temporal lobes. FTDs broadly present as behavioral or language disorders with gradual onsets.
Amotivational syndrome is a chronic psychiatric disorder characterized by signs that are linked to cognitive and emotional states such as detachment, blunted emotion and drives, executive functions like memory and attention, disinterest, passivity, apathy, and a general lack of motivation. This syndrome can be branched into two subtypes - marijuana amotivational syndrome, interchangeably known as cannabis induced amotivational syndrome which is caused by usage and/or dependency of the substance and is primarily associated with long-term effects of cannabis use, and SSRI-induced amotivational syndrome or SSRI-induced apathy caused by the intake of SSRI medication dosage. According to the Handbook of Clinical Psychopharmacology for Therapists, amotivational syndrome is listed as a possible side effect of SSRIs in the treatment of clinical depression.
Anouk Schemmekes, professionally known by the mononym Anouk, is a Dutch singer and songwriter. After her 1997 breakthrough rock single "Nobody's Wife", she had additional hit records in the Dutch and Belgian charts. Many of her albums topped the Dutch album charts, most of them going Platinum and several debuting in the number 1 position. Her most famous singles include "Michel", "It's So Hard", "R U Kiddin' Me", "Girl", "Lost", "Modern World", "Three Days in a Row", "Birds", and "Woman".
As populations age, caring for people with dementia has become more common. Elderly caregiving may consist of formal care and informal care. Formal care involves the services of community and medical partners, while informal care involves the support of family, friends, and local communities. In most mild-to-medium cases of dementia, the caregiver is a spouse or an adult child. Over a period of time, more professional care in the form of nursing and other supportive care may be required medically, whether at home or in a long-term care facility. There is evidence to show that case management can improve care for individuals with dementia and the experience of their caregivers. Furthermore, case management may reduce overall costs and institutional care in the medium term. Millions of people living in the United States take care of a friend or family member with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia.
The Netherlands' mainstream video games market, not taking into consideration the serious and casual games, is the sixth largest in Europe. In 2008, the Dutch market took up 3.95% of the entire European market in total sales and 4.19% in software sales.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens, and is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems with language, disorientation, mood swings, loss of motivation, self-neglect, and behavioral issues. As a person's condition declines, they often withdraw from family and society. Gradually, bodily functions are lost, ultimately leading to death. Although the speed of progression can vary, the average life expectancy following diagnosis is three to twelve years.
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a chronic degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that affects both the motor system and non-motor systems. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease progresses, non-motor symptoms become more common. Early symptoms are tremor, rigidity, slowness of movement, and difficulty with walking. Problems may also arise with cognition, behaviour, sleep, and sensory systems. Parkinson's disease dementia is common in advanced stages.
Signs and symptoms of Parkinson's disease are varied. Parkinson's disease affects movement, producing motor symptoms. Non-motor symptoms, which include dysautonomia, cognitive and neurobehavioral problems, and sensory and sleep difficulties, are also common. When other diseases mimic Parkinson's disease, they are categorized as parkinsonism.
The Dutch Game Garden is a video game studio incubator which was launched in Utrecht, The Netherlands in 2008 using funding from the European Regional Development Fund. The organisation is the largest such program in the Netherlands.
Coen Verbraak is a Dutch journalist and television producer and presenter.
The relationships between digital media use and mental health have been investigated by various researchers—predominantly psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and medical experts—especially since the mid-1990s, after the growth of the World Wide Web. A significant body of research has explored "overuse" phenomena, commonly known as "digital addictions", or "digital dependencies." These phenomena manifest differently in many societies and cultures. Some experts have investigated the benefits of moderate digital media use in various domains, including in mental health, and the treatment of mental health problems with novel technological solutions.
Noa Pothoven was a Dutch mental health activist and author. Her death at the age of 17 sparked global controversy due to public statements she made about her wish to die, her activism concerning youth mental health care, and foreign media reports that incorrectly attributed her eventual death to active euthanasia. Many foreign news outlets wrongfully stated Pothoven was euthanised under the Dutch 2001 Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act.
Tim Hofman is a Dutch television presenter, journalist, poet, and columnist. Hofman often worked under the pseudonym of debroervanroos. He is, among other things, known as the presenter of the online program #BOOS, with which he won various awards.
