Throughout our history there have been different terms to refer to these patients, concepts that have been updated hand in hand with advances in science. Terms such as "mentally weak" have been changing to more current words such as delays in psychomotor development and others.
The change in technical terms does not usually translate into changes in the concepts used in society, which determines the maintenance of anachronistic stigmas and discrimination with our patients.
The concept of senile dementia is one of the most present examples in our society, which undoubtedly comes from the difficulty of professionals dedicated to the subject to explain the concepts at a social level in a close and simple way.
Authors
Tomás León, MD
Psychiatrist
