Dementia develops from diagnosis to death through a seven-stage dementia-transition.  This dementia-transition has three pre-dementia stages from No cognitive decline (a person is fully functional) through Mild cognitive decline, followed by four dementia stages from Mild Dementia through Severe Dementia (a person is completely non-functional) and death.  There is no standard duration for any stage, and dementia-transition through the seven stages of this process may continue over several weeks or over many years.

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A person with the horrible condition of dementia may choose to follow dementia-transition through the seven stages described above, or to self-transition from one of the three pre-dementia stages directly to the end of this process which is death.  This terrible decision involves many factors.  This page does not advocate self-transition in any way, but rather is meant to raise Awareness and Conversation about these options.  The author's position related to his own dementia is provided in the video below, and his position for himself related to choosing between dementia-transition or self-transition is discussed at 8:35-12:15 of the video.  His position is to have his life and his death on his terms as much as he can, rather than on dementia's terms.  This is a very hard choice but every choice in this condition is very hard.