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Dementia Alters Emotional Understanding and Empathy in the Brain

How Dementia Alters Emotional Understanding and Empathy in the Brain

Dec 03, 2024

Summary: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) affects about 50-60K Americans, yet it is often misdiagnosed or diagnosis is delayed. One of the new studies shows that a lack of empathy towards others is one of the earliest tell-tale signs of FTD, and this sign may be misinterpreted.

 Dementia is known to influence memory. Those affected by the condition start forgetting things. They have a hard time remembering important dates. As the disease progresses, they start forgetting important personal information or recognizing their caretakers. However, dementia is not just about loss of memory.

Dementia is caused by progressive loss of functional brain cells. Dementia patients differ greatly, and their initial symptoms may depend on what part of the brain is affected first. Thus, in some, it may begin with emotional disorders, while in others, it may begin with reduced motor functions. So, it is vital to understand that there are many other early dementia symptoms.

Now, one of the studies shows that frontotemporal dementia is more likely to cause a loss of empathy in those affected by the condition. It means that these individuals may be unable to understand other people’s emotions. They might not empathize when they see others in pain.

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Lack of empathy or progressive loss of empathy is one of the early signs of frontotemporal dementia. Understanding this is important. This is because frontotemporal dementia is different from Alzheimer’s. Many of those living with this kind of dementia are often wrongly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, depression, or other psychiatric conditions. This kind of dementia is one of the most challenging to diagnose, and its diagnosis is often delayed by several years. It is estimated that in the US, there are about 50,000 to 60,000 individuals living with this kind of dementia.

This new study was published in JAMA Network Open. It analyzed 28 patients diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). In the study, researchers used fMRI to analyze brain function.

To understand how participants show empathy to others, researchers showed the images of hands being penetrated by needles. Such images are known to increase activity in certain brain parts in healthy adults. However, researchers found that those living with FTD did not show any such response. It means that they simply failed to show empathy. This is objective proof that empathy declines in those living with FTD.

Since these individuals fail to show empathy or become incapable of showing empathy, they also show other behavioral issues. It appears that FTD patients are more likely to show symptoms similar to psychopathy rather than a decline in memory, especially in the early stages of the disease.

These findings may not help in the early diagnosis of FTD, but more importantly, they may help doctors differentiate it from other kinds of dementia. Additionally, this may also help provide better care to such patients.

It is vital to understand that dementia is of different types. Although Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia, there are many other types of dementia. Additionally, dementia may show different kinds of signs that may be readily confused with other brain disorders or mental health conditions.

Of course, ultimately, those living with FTD will develop a significant decline in cognition. However, when the condition is misdiagnosed in its early phase, precious opportunity is missed to prevent its progression.

Source:

Lindberg, O., Li, T.-Q., Lind, C., Vestberg, S., Almkvist, O., Stiernstedt, M., Ericson, A., Bogdanovic, N., Hansson, O., Harper, L., Westman, E., Graff, C., Tsevis, T., Mannfolk, P., Fischer, H., Nilsonne, G., Petrovic, P., Nyberg, L., Wahlund, L.-O., & Santillo, A. F. (2024). Altered Empathy Processing in Frontotemporal Dementia. JAMA Network Open, 7(12), e2448601. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.48601

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