Am J Psychiatry 1981; 138:811-814
Copyright © 1981 by American Psychiatric Association
Pseudodementia and physical findings masking significant psychopathology
MI Good
In a study of 53 medical-surgical patients who were in extended care and
were consecutively referred for psychiatric evaluation, 7 (13%) of the
patients had been considered to have unequivocal dementia, yet 3 of them
(6% of the total or 43% of those considered demented) were found to have a
false-dementing psychiatric disorder. Physical findings contributed to
masking the psychopathology, which included psychotic depression with the
Ganser symptom in 2 patients and hysterical pseudodementia with depression
in 1 patient. Criteria that have been recommended to differentiate
pseudodementia from dementia could lead to misdiagnosis in the type of case
described, which suggests the need for a typology of depressive
pseudodementia.
