title: Cognitive and psychopathological change in degenerative disease in the elderly.
abstract: Neuropsychological studies of declining cognitive ability and increasing psychopathology in degenerative neurological diseases in the elderly suggest the following: (1) the physiological basis for affective and thought disorder remains elusive; (2) cognitive capacity and primary psychopathology are not clearly related in degenerative disease; rather neuropsychological studies in this area illustrate a dissociation between accessory (secondary) symptoms of psychopathology and cognitive changes; (3) accessory symptoms of thought disorder may be associated with disorders of the basal ganglia; and (4) current nosology of affective and thought disorders is probably not appropriate when dealing with onset of psychopathology in the elderly. There is a need to closely attend to logical inference in neuropsychological data from this group of patients, and to clearly differentiate primary from secondary symptoms of affective and thought disorders.
authors.affiliation: VA Medical Center, Psychology Service Ann Arbor, MI 48105.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Bieliauskas
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology