pseudodementia /pseu·do·de·men·tia/ (soo″do-dĕ-men´shah) a state of general apathy resembling dementia, but due to a psychiatric disorder rather than organic brain disease and potentially reversible.
pseudodementia
pseudodementia
pseu·do·de·men·tia (s  d -d -m n sh )n. A condition of exaggerated indifference to one's surroundings without actual mental impairment. |
pseudodementia
[-dimen′shə]
a syndrome that mimics dementia. It needs to be differentiated from depression.
pseudodementia
Neurology Dementia-like Sx due to psychologic impairment–eg, depression or histrionic episode, characterized by cognitive impairment of short duration, with preserved attention and ability to concentrate, and a variable
performance in tests with similar levels of difficulty; it is often transient, common in the elderly and may be linked to medications–anticholinergics, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, butyrophenones, corticosteroids, digitalis, IMAOs, TCAs or
due to depression–with physical and emotional deprivation, accompanied by apathy, akinesia and anxiety; pseudodementia also occurs in normal pressure hydrocephalus, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, Huntington's, Parkinson's, Pick's,
Wilson's diseases, and endocrinopathy. Cf Cerebral pseudoatrophy, Dementia.
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