[What is dementia? 1. The patient's perspective].

The dementia conveys representations in term of loss, loss of knowledge, loss of cognition, loss of autonomy, loss of awareness of the deficits, with for consequencies a loss of exchanges and social withdrawal. Because of the difficulty for the patient to communicate his (her) feelings, it is difficult to understand his (her) experience of living. The analysis of speech through interviews realized with Alzheimer'disease patients, shows that the person who feels to enter a shape of abnormality, suffers from the loss of control of his/her existence, change of the relationships with the circle of acquaintances, other people's opinion, and social stigmatisation.