ABSTRACT
Of all the major categories of mental illness, indeed of illness of any kind, dementia may best illustrate the famous dictum of historian Charles Rosenberg that "In some ways disease does not exist until we have agreed that it does, by perceiving, naming, and responding to it". This chapter addresses questions about the growing salience of dementia by describing the different ways dementia has historically been framed by attitudes toward aging. It presents a discussion of dementia in antiquity through the early modern period. The chapter describes the three major ways that dementia has been framed by changing attitudes about aging since the nineteenth century, culminating in its emergence in the late twentieth century as one of the most prominent and feared medical conditions, even though its continued entanglement with aging leaves its status as a mental illness somewhat confused.
