American researchers question the frequency to which personality changes at an advanced age predict and really signal a cognitive decline.
- The “five large” personality features are neuroticism, openness, extraversion, convenience and consciousness.
- Their changes do not necessarily predict memory disorders, but rather appear in response to the stress of life.
- The clinical evaluation of medium -sized personality changes at the end of life must first take into account psychological maladjustment to situational threats and challenges.
For all pathologies, it is essential to identify the symptoms as soon as possible in order to detect and treat it. In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, some clinicians think that major personality changes, such as an increase in neuroticism, could be a sign. However, according to scientists from Pennsylvania State universities and northern Arizona (United States), “These results are misleading if we do not take sufficient account of all other factors that can promote personality changes: the loss of a loved one, stress at work, family stress, body changes and Other things that millions of us live when they get older. “
Personality does not evolve in the same way in all participants
In a study, published in the journal Scientific Reportsthe team wanted to verify whether the changes in the “five large” personality traits, namely neuroticism, open -mindedness, extraversion, pleasantness and consciousness, arise in parallel with changes of stressful life and memory disorders. For this, she used data collected from 12,912 Americans aged 50 and over as part of health and retirement research from 2006 to 2020. The participants were questioned about their cognitive state and events stressful in their lives.
On average, older adults, whether or not they have memory disorders, have shown slight but significant decreases in the five personality traits over time. This trend is consistent with existing work suggesting that the personality of people tends to become less pronounced with age and that they tend to put themselves behind socially and put aside their emotions as they age. However, some volunteers have shown greater personality changes. The latter have experienced a decrease in their ability to regulate their emotions, which suggests an increase in neuroticism. Others have had more difficulty planning and achieving long -term objectives, which suggests a decrease in professional consciousness.
Alzheimer’s: personality changes are not necessarily linked to memory disorders
According to the authors, these changes, known to reflect deficiencies from the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system, were not mainly caused by memory disorders. On the contrary, they were strongly associated with stressors of stress in life. On eight -year follow -up, stress -related events, such as the loss of a loved one, financial difficulties or health problems, represented 25 to 35 % of changes to neuroticism.
“We do not refute the relationship between increased neuroticism and the early stages of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. We are the first to emphasize that the elderly who suffer from increased neuroticism are not all at the start of the cognitive decline . said Katsuya oiwho led the study.
Faced with this data, researchers recommend health professionals to work with patients and their loved ones to contextualize the observed personality changes before drawing hasty conclusions on dementia. “Personality changes indicate that something tumultuous is happening, a tension between life and oneself. It can be Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, or something else. something else, if it is not controlled, can become clinic. “
