title: Alzheimer's disease camouflaged by histrionic personality disorder.
abstract: A common condition in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is unawareness of deficits. Different concepts try to elucidate the nature of this symptom. An essential question relates to the interaction of organic and psychogenic factors. Here we present a patient who displayed her cognitive deficits as attention-seeking behaviour. There was a history of histrionic personality disorder according to ICD-10 criteria. Unexpectedly, the final diagnosis after extensive diagnostic work-up was AD. The unusual coincidence of AD and a histrionic personality disorder hampered the clinical process of diagnosing dementia. We discuss unawareness as a complex concept incorporating neuroanatomical, psychiatric, and psychosocial aspects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. sabine.hellwig@uniklinik-freiburg.de
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hellwig
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dykierek
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hellwig
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zwernemann
authors.forename: Philipp T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Meyer
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006677:Histrionic Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography