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. 1990 Mar;53(3):254–259. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.53.3.254

Pseudodementia twelve years on.

P S Sachdev 1, J S Smith 1, H Angus-Lepan 1, P Rodriguez 1
PMCID: PMC1014139  PMID: 2324757

Abstract

This paper reports a longitudinal study of 19 patients diagnosed as having pseudodementia more than a decade earlier. In only one patient was the earlier diagnosis changed to definite dementia and, in this patient, there were strong indicators that such a diagnosis should have been made initially. In a second patient, dementia could not be excluded. The remaining patients did not show evidence of a dementing illness and the courses of the illnesses resembled the primary psychiatric disorders responsible for the pseudodementia. The results validate the clinical utility of the term "pseudodementia".

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Selected References

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