Introduction
Neurocognitive disorders describe signs and symptoms of many diseases, which lead to progressive or gradual changes in the functionality of a person. It is a general term used to explain the cumulative diminishing of memory, mental agility, intellectual ability, and impact on the accustomed emotional ripostes. Adulthood occurs in different stages, which shape the way people relate with family and others. This essay will examine Erikson’s and Maslow’s theories about adulthood and progressive neurocognitive disorders.
Erikson’s Theory and Maslow’s Theory about Emerging Adulthood, Adulthood, and Late Adulthood
In his theory, Erikson outlined and discussed eight stages of development from emerging adulthood, adulthood to late adulthood. Each stage has a specific historical time, but the adult stages are not connected to any age (Berger, 2019). The eight stages outlined by Erikson are trust versus mistrust, autonomy versus shame and doubt, initiative versus guilt purpose, industry versus inferiority, identity versus role diffusion, intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation, and integrity versus despair.
Intimacy versus isolation- in psychological development, people in this stage are perturbed by love matters (relationships), are envious, and sometimes feel lonely. This sixth stage occurs between the ages of 18 to 40 years, which is the young adulthood phase. During this time, individuals start forming intimate relationships with others besides family members, which leads to long-term commitments (Berger, 2019). The positive effects can result in happy relations, care, safety, and obligations. However, isolation, loneliness, and misery can be the outcome of fearing relationships, promises, and intimacy.
Generativity versus stagnation – refers to the seventh stage in development, which is futuristic because people fear failing in the future. This stage helps develop a broader sense of belonging where people give back to society through their contribution to raising children, working productively, and involvement in social activities and organizations. This stage becomes successful when one feels a sense of accomplishment and usefulness. On the negative side, one may feel disconnected and lack involvement, which is essential as the virtue of care needs to develop.
Abraham Maslow had a feeling that all people have the same basic needs no matter their way of life, gender, or where they come from. He believed that all people work hard to get cognizance of themselves and that of others. He organized the needs into five levels: 1. Physiology: everybody will need to get food, water, warmth, and fresh air no matter where they are for survival. 2. Safety: one needs to feel secure and safe from any form of danger. 3. Love and belonging: one feels good to be loved and cared for as a family and part of a group. Also, having allies, family, and a good religious community. 4. Esteem: this is improved when one can earn respect from society members, be successful, and get the admiration of many from what they have achieved. 5. Self-actualization: this is where one becomes eccentric in their abilities while giving appreciation to all life has given.
Additionally, Maslow’s theory is not developmental because he believed that the five levels had a linkage to particular age brackets. He stated that one has to meet the basic needs before anticipating chasing the secondary ones. After the needs have been met, people can comfortably be themselves in many ways, such as being creative, spiritual, and also earning respect from the other members of society. Consequently, five vital agglomerations are contained in the whole stage of adulthood: candidness, punctiliousness or honesty, cordial or sociable, affability, and agitation (Berger, 2019). To reflect the personality, adults pick their contexts, hobbies, mates, vacations, and also the neighborhood about the traits theory.
Neurocognitive Disorders
Neurocognitive disorders cause diseases that can be regrouped into two. The first group of diseases is degenerative, while the second one is non-degenerative. The degenerative illness makes the affected organ’s functionality worsen in due course, while the non-degenerative ailment can be reversed with treatment, and the result is called subcortical dementia. The degenerative dementias are Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia, picks disease, or frontal temporal dementia. Non-degenerative dementia is made up of vascular dementia, alcoholic dementia, Creutz Feldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).
Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease is the major cause of dementia and appears at irregular intervals. People suffering from this disease are likely to have problems when trying to create new memories. This is mainly caused by the damage that has been caused to the brain by dementia. The brain that mainly keeps long-term memories has not faced any impact on Alzheimer’s dementia. As time glides by, the effect of dementia on the brain increases, and the long-term memories also start fading away.
This disease has five stages: forgetting recent activities or newly acquired information, especially names of places and people, confusion mode leading to reduced concentration, short-term memory and speech, memory lapse, inability to communicate clearly and recognize close relations, and lastly, loss of identity, personality, and unresponsiveness (Vannini et al., 2017). Additionally, they form extracellular clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid inside the tissues surrounding the neurons and tangles, which are twisted tissues surrounding the neurons (Janelidze et al., 2016). Some tau and beta-amyloid are found in the normal brain, but the tangles and plaques escalate, especially in the hippocampus.
Alzheimer’s disease is partially hereditary, with those affected in middle age developing either Down syndrome or any one of these three inherited genes: presenilin 1, presenilin 2, or amyloid precursor protein. Moreover, Genes such as SORL1 and ApoE4 have various effects on AD development, with a higher chance for those who inherit two copies and a 50/50 chance for those who inherit one copy, especially women (Berger, 2019). Research has found early brain indicators which predict the disease, and with time, early treatment may be possible.
Vascular disease
Vascular disease (VaD) is an abnormal blood vessel disorder, which results from transient ischemic attacks or ministrokes, causing blurred visions, slurred speech, weak limbs, and confusion. Those with VaD experience irregular symptoms that may vanish, improve slightly, or get worse (Berger, 2019). This disease is mainly caused by cerebrovascular disease. It mainly affects the hippocampus and other areas involved in retaining memory and leads to reduced intellective functionality.
The conditions of the affected individual worsen with each embolus. Due to the lack of infarcts when one undergoes radiology, the results indicate that there is no vascular disease but fail to diagnose its presence in the body (O’Brien & Thomas, 2015). This disease is treated by reducing the risk factors and causes such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and anticoagulants. There is no known treatment for this disease, but it can be managed.
Conclusion
There are different stages and needs associated with development from emerging adulthood, adulthood to late adulthood with each having a specific period. This shapes how people relate to family and other members of society. Neurocognitive disorders are diseases that reduce the functioning of the body organs. Some of these dementias can lead to complete memory loss. These diseases are supposed to be prevented by managing some and seeking treatment where the disease can be cured. Finally, people should be able to notice any changes in their bodies so that the necessary action or treatment can be taken to avoid more effects on the brain.
References
Berger, K. S. (2019). Invitation to the life span. Worth Publishers, Macmillan Learning
Janelidze, S., Zetterberg, H., Mattsson, N., Palmqvist, S., Vanderstichele, H., Lindberg, O., van Westen, D., Stomrud, E., Minthon, L., Blennow, K., Swedish BioFINDER study group, & Hansson, O. (2016). CSF Aβ42/Aβ40 and Aβ42/Aβ38 ratios: better diagnostic markers of Alzheimer disease. Annals of clinical and translational neurology, 3(3), 154–165. Web.
O’Brien J. T, & Thomas, A. (2015). Vascular dementia. The Lancet, 386(10004), 1698-1706. Web.
Vannini, P., Amariglio, R., Hanseeuw, B., Johnson, K. A., McLaren, D. G., Chhatwal, J., Pascual-Leone, A., Rentz, D., & Sperling, R. A. (2017). Memory self-awareness in the preclinical and prodromal stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychologia, 99, 343–349. Web.