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Presbyophrenia: Clinical Aspects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

G. E. Berrios
G. E. Berrios*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital (Level 4), Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ
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Summary

Fifteen cases meeting the diagnostic criteria for presbyophrenia are reported and compared with a control sample of patients suffering from dementia. The presbyophrenic patients exhibited more elevated mood, more hyperactivity, more disorientation, and had lower information scores than the controls. Traditional explanations of ‘presbyophrenic behaviour’ such as delirium, pathoplastic effect of personality, or superimposed cerebrovascular disease are not adequate. Instead, presbyophrenia may constitute a sub-type of dementia characterised by severe atrophy of the locus coeruleus, marked impairment of noradrenergic transmission, and uninhibited behaviour.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 147 , Issue 1 , July 1985 , pp. 76 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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