This is a question that’s asked often. Dementia is an umbrella term, describing symptoms like memory loss, cognitive impairment, etc. There are many diseases that cause dementia. Alzheimer’s is the most common.

Think of Alzheimer’s as a disease and think of dementia as a condition. There are other diseases (FrontotemporalDegeneration, Lewy Body Dementia, Vascular Cognitive Impairment) that share the same condition of dementia. The Mayo Clinic describes dementia as “a syndrome linked to problems with remembering, learning new things, focusing and making decisions that affect everyday life.”