--- title: Alzheimer's Disease: Mood Changes Depression Can Signal Early Dementia description: The vast majority of people with Alzheimer's disease will experience changes like depression and anxiety. But a new study published in the journal Neurology shows... canonical: https://time.com/3667978/mood-changes-early-alzheimers/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-14T21:24:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:34:53.040Z article:section: Health og:title: These Common Mood Changes Can Signal Early Alzheimer's og:description: The vast majority of people with Alzheimer's disease will experience changes like depression and anxiety. But a new study published in the journal Neurology shows... og:url: https://time.com/3667978/mood-changes-early-alzheimers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Common Mood Changes Can Signal Early Alzheimer's twitter:description: The vast majority of people with Alzheimer's disease will experience changes like depression and anxiety. But a new study published in the journal Neurology shows... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # These Common Mood Changes Can Signal Early Alzheimer's by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jan 14, 2015 9:24 PM CUT by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jan 14, 2015 9:24 PM CUT The vast majority of people with Alzheimer’s disease will experience changes like depression and anxiety. But a new [study](http://www.neurology.org/content/early/2015/01/13/WNL.0000000000001238 "undefined") published in the journal _Neurology_ shows that behavioral changes like these start well before they begin to have memory loss. The researchers looked at 2,416 people over age 50 without cognitive issues. After following them for seven years, researchers found that 1,218 people developed dementia. Those with dementia had twice the risk of developing depression earlier—far before their dementia symptoms started—than people without the disease. They were also more than 12 times more likely to develop delusions. The symptoms appeared in consistent phases: first, irritability, depression, and nighttime behavior changes; followed by anxiety, appetite changes, agitation and apathy. The final phase was elation, motor disturbances, hallucinations, delusions and disinhibition. Though the researchers were able to make the connection, they still cannot confirm for certain whether the changes in the brain that cause one shift in behavior are the same changes that cause memory loss. But understanding when symptoms related to Alzheimer’s disease appear could one day lead to earlier interventions. _Read next:_ [_The Science Behind Why Dogs Might Just Be Man’s Best Friend_](http://time.com/3667968/why-dog-man-best-friend/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3667978/mood-changes-early-alzheimers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3667978/mood-changes-early-alzheimers/"},"headline":"These Common Mood Changes Can Signal Early Alzheimer's","datePublished":"2015-01-14T21:24:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:34:53.040Z","description":"The vast majority of people with Alzheimer's disease will experience changes like depression and anxiety. But a new study published in the journal Neurology shows...","url":"https://time.com/3667978/mood-changes-early-alzheimers/","keywords":["Aging","Depression","Brain","Dementia","memory loss"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/aging/","name":"Aging"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3667978/mood-changes-early-alzheimers/","name":"These Common Mood Changes Can Signal Early Alzheimer's"}}]}] ```