Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T09:04:00.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pseudodementia: Facts and Figures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

A. Bulbena  and
G. E. Berrios
A. Bulbena
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Level 4, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ
G. E. Berrios*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Level 4, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ
*
Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The historical and conceptual aspects of the pseudodementia state are briefly touched upon. A “collective sample”, composed of 61 cases culled from the literature, is analysed and compared with the “Fulbourn sample” consisting of 22 cases reported for the first time. Two sub-types of pseudodementia emerge, one associated with depressive illness and the other with delirium. A follow-up of the Fulbourn sample (1–4 years after discharge) showed 14 patients to be alive and 8 to show no signs of dementia. No variable except the diagnosis “non-specific psychosis” correlated with death during the follow-up period.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 148 , Issue 1 , January 1986 , pp. 87 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adlex, R. (1981) Pseudodementia or Ganser Syndrome in a ten year old boy. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 15, 339–342.Google Scholar
Allen, R. M. (1982) Pseudodementia and ECT. Biological Psychiatry, 17, 1435–1443.Google ScholarPubMed
Anderson, E. W., Trethowan, W. H. & Kenna, J. C. (1959) An experimental investigation of simulation and pseudodementia. Acta Psychiatrica et Neurologica Scandinavica, 34, Supplement 132.Google Scholar
Azorin, J. M. & Mattei, J. P. (1983) Les pseudo-demences. Problèmes cliniques et pathogèniques. Encephale, 9(2), 125–191.Google Scholar
Berrios, G. E. (1981) Stupor: a conceptual history. Psychological Medicine, 11, 677–688.Google Scholar
Berrios, G. E. (1985) Pseudodementia or melancholic dementia: A nineteenth-century view. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 48, 393–400.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berrios, G. E. (1986) Dementia: A conceptual history. Psychological Medicine (in press).Google Scholar
Bleuler, E. (1934) Textbook of Psychiatry. New York: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Bond, T. C. (1980) Recognition of acute delirious mania. Archives of General Psychiatry. 37, 553–554.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carney, M. (1983) Pseudodementia. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 29, 312–318.Google ScholarPubMed
Chiles, J. A. & Cohen, D. (1979) Pseododementia and mania. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 167, 357–358.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, R. M., Weingartner, H., Smallberg, S. A. et al (1982) Effort and cognition in depression. Archives of General Psychiatry. 39, 593–596.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cronholm, B. & Ottosson, J. O. (1961) Memory functions in endogenous depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 5, 193–199.Google Scholar
Cummings, J. L. & Benson, D. F. (1983) Dementia: A Clinical Approach. London: Butterworth.Google Scholar
Delasiauve, L. J. F. (1851) Du diagnostic differentiel de la lypemanie. Annales Médico-Psychologiques. 3, 380–442.Google Scholar
Donnelly, E. F., Murphy, D. L., Goodwin, F. K. et al (1982) Intellectual function in primary affective disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry. 140, 633–636.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fisman, M. (1982) Pseudodementia and schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 846.Google ScholarPubMed
Freemon, F. R. (1976) Evaluation of patients with progressive intellectual deterioration. Archives of Neurology, 33, 658–659.Google Scholar
Garcia, C. A., Reding, M. J. A Blass, J. P. (1981) Overdiagnosis of dementia. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 29, 407–410.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gurland, B. & Toner, J. (1983) Differentiating dementia from non-dementing conditions In The Dementias (eds. Mayetu, R. & Rosen, W. G.). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Henry, G. M., Weingartner, H. & Murphy, D. L. (1973) Influence of affective states and psychoactive drugs on verbal learning and memory. American Journal of Psychiatry, 130, 966–971.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Janowsky, D. S. (1982) Pseudodementia in the elderly. Differential diagnosis and treatment. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 43(2), 19–25.Google ScholarPubMed
Kahlbaum, K. L. (1874) Die Katatonie. Berlin: Kirschwald. English translation by Levi, Y. & Pridan, T. (1973): Catatonia. Baltimore; Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Kammeker, Th. (1975) Pseudodémence de Wernicke In Manuel Alphabétique de Psychiatrie (ed. Porot, A.). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Kaplan, E. L. & Meier, P. (1958) Non-parametric estimation for incomplete observations. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 53, 457–468.Google Scholar
Kiloh, L. G. (1961) Pseudo-dementia. Acta Psychiairica Scandinavica, 37, 336–351.Google Scholar
Kramer, B. A. (1982) Depressive pseudodementia. Comprehensive Psychiatry. 23, 538–544.Google Scholar
Kramp, P. & Bolwig, T. G. (1981) Electroconvulsive therapy in acute delirious states. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 22, 368–371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
La Rue, A. (1982) Memory loss and aging. Distinguishing dementia from benign senescent forgetfulness and depressive pseudodementia. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 5, 89–103.Google Scholar
Lee, E. T. (1980) Statistical Methods for Survival Data Analysis. Belmont, California: Lifetime Learning Publications.Google Scholar
Madden, J. J., Luhan, J. A., Kaplan, L. A. el al (1952) Non-dementing psychoses in older persons. Journal of the American Medical Association. 150, 1567–1570.Google Scholar
Mahendra, B. (1983) ‘Pscudodementia’ a misleading and illogical concept. British Journal of Psychiatry. 143, 202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mahendra, B. (1984) Pseudodementia: Abandon the term? American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 471–472.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marsden, C. D. & Harrison, M. J. G. (1972) Outcome of investigation of patients with presenile dementia. British Medical Journal, 2, 249–252.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McAllister, T. W. (1981) Cognitive functioning in the affective disorders. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 22, 572–586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McAllister, T. W. (1983) Overview: Pseudodementia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 528–533.Google ScholarPubMed
McAllister, T. W., Ferrell, R. B., Price, T. R. P. et al (1982) The dexamethasone suppression test in two patients with severe depressive pseudodementia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 479–481.Google Scholar
McEvoy, J. P. & Wells, C. E. (1979) Conversion pseudodementia. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 40, 447–449.Google Scholar
Murrhy, E. (1983) The prognosis of depression in old age. British Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 111–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nott, P. N. & Fleminger, J. J. (1975) Presenile dementia: The difficulties of early diagnosis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 51, 210–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pettinati, H. M. & Bonner, K. M. (1984) Cognitive functioning in depressed geriatric patients with a history of ECT. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 49–52.Google ScholarPubMed
Post, F. (1975) Dementia, depression and pseudodementia In Psychiatric Aspects of Neurologic Disease (eds. Benson, D. F. & Blumer, D.). New York: Grune and Stratton.Google Scholar
Reifler, B. V. (1982) Arguments for abandoning the term pseudodementia. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 30, 665–668.Google Scholar
Roberts, A. H. (1963) The value of ECT in delirium. British Journal of Psychiatry, 109, 653–655.Google Scholar
Ron, M. A., Toone, B. K., Garraloa, M. E. et al (1979) Diagnostic accuracy in presenile dementia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 161–168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rudorfer, M. V. & Clayton, P. J. (1982) Pseudodementia: Use of the DST in diagnosis and treatment monitoring. Psychosomatics, 23, 429–431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shraberg, D. (1978) The myth of pseudodementia: Depression and the aging brain. American Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 601–603.Google Scholar
Shraberg, D. (1980a) Questioning the concept of pseudodementia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 260.Google Scholar
Shraberg, D. (1980b) An overview of neuropsychiatric disturbances in the elderly. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 28, 422–425.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, J. S. & Kiloh, L. G. (1981) The investigation of dementia: Results in 200 consecutive admissions. Lancet, i, 824–827.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, D. E. & Jarvik, M. E. (1976) Memory functions in depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 33, 219–224.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stromgren, L. S. (1977) The influence of depression on memory. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 56, 109–128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swartz, M. S., Henschen, G. M., Cavenar, J. O. et al (1982) A case of intermittent delirious mania. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 1357–1358.Google ScholarPubMed
Wells, C. E. (1979) Pseudodementia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 895–900.Google Scholar
Wells, C. E. (1982) Pseudodementia and the recognition of organicity In Psychiatric Aspects of Neurologic Disease (eds Benson, D. F. & Blumer, D.). New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.