title: The diagnosis of dementia and other "deficitary' psychopathological syndromes in old age: reflections and recommendations of a clinical psychiatrist.
abstract: Clinical evaluation and staging of dementia and related disorders has been approached in various ways. Performance of subjects featuring cognitive decline has been scored on established, often lengthy psychometric and neuropsychological tests, by means of behavioural rating, and by means of various combinations of simplified psychometric and behavioural evaluations. Although concerning the assessment of the clinical aspects of cognitive decline in the elderly, broad areas of agreement among experts exist, yet there is no clear consensus on a number of assessment issues. There are, for example, different views concerning the utility of particular assessment instruments. Also are there different perspectives from which the selection of psychological performance tests can be undertaken. This paper may contribute a mite in touching the existing literature on several sore points, by formulating some relevant methodological and semantic remarks that could well form a starting point for vigorous discussion.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008370:Manuals as Topic; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D009626:Terminology as Topic