Alcohol-Related Dementia (ARD)

Alcohol-related dementia (ARD) is a form of dementia caused by long-term and excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages that results in neurological damage and impaired cognitive functioning.

This diagnosis is widely known but is rarely actually diagnosed due to lack of specific diagnostic criteria. While a major symptom of alcohol-related dementia is a global decline in functioning it has other specific symptoms. Some victims present with frontal lobe damage that causes disinhibition, loss of executive skills (such as planning), and a lack of regard for consequences. Other victims show the symptoms of Korsakoff's syndrome; destruction of some areas of the brain that causes a loss of short-term memory. These symptoms show permanent damage to the brain that cannot be treated or reversed.