pseudodementia

People (especially older adults) who are depressed may seem to have dementia when they do not (pseudodementia).

Pseudodementia is a phenotype approximated by a wide variety of underlying disorders (1).

Clinically, people with pseudodementia differ from those with true dementia when their memory is tested.

In general, pseudodementia patients present a considerable cognitive deficits, including disorders in learning, memory and psychomotor performance.

The history of disturbance in pseudodementia is often short and abrupt onset, while dementia is more often insidious.

Munch has an uncle, Andrew (played by Jerry Lewis), who gets diagnosed with depressive pseudodementia.

Pseudodementia: A Theoretical and Empirical Discussion.

It is also sometimes called nonsense syndrome, balderdash syndrome, syndrome of approximate answers, pseudodementia, hysterical pseudodementia or prison psychosis.

As certain of pseudodementia remains potentially treatable, it is essential that they are distinguished from primarily dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), and multi-infarct dementia (MID).

For instance, pseudodementia associated with depression (DD) has been found as the most frequently appearing, while as many as 10% to 20% patients are misdiagnosed as primary degenerative dementia (PDD) or vice versa.

Investigations such as SPECT imaging of the brain show reduced blood flow in areas of the brain in people with Alzheimer's disease, compared with a more normal blood flow in those with pseudodementia.

It has long been observed that in the differential diagnosis between dementia and pseudodementia, depressive pseudodementia appears to be the single most difficult disorder to distinguish from nosologically established "organic" categories of dementia(5), especially degenerative dementia of the Alzheimer type (6).