Depression Treatment: Alexithymia and Apathy in Parkinson’s Disease: Neurocognitive Correlates.

Alexithymia and apathy in Parkinson’s disease: Neurocognitive correlates.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Behav Neurol. 2012 Dec 14;
Bogdanova Y, Cronin-Golomb A

Non-motor symptoms such as neuropsychiatric and cognitive dysfunction have been found to be common in Parkinson’s disease (PD) but the relation between such symptoms is poorly understood. We focused on alexithymia, an impairment of affective and cognitive emotional processing, as there is evidence for its interaction with cognition in other disorders. Twenty-two non-demented PD patients and 22 matched normal control adults (NC) were administered rating scales assessing neuropsychiatric status, including alexithymia, apathy, and depression, and a series of neuropsychological tests. As expected, PD patients showed more alexithymia than NC, and there was a significant association between alexithymia and disease stage. Alexithymia was associated with performance on non-verbally mediated measures of executive and visuospatial function, but not on verbally mediated tasks. By contrast, there was no correlation between cognition and ratings of either depression or apathy. Our findings demonstrate a distinct association of alexithymia with non-verbal cognition in PD, implicating right hemisphere processes, and differentiate between alexithymia and other neuropsychiatric symptoms in regard to PD cognition.
HubMed – depression

 

Neuropsychological and emotional correlates of personality traits in Parkinson’s disease.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Behav Neurol. 2012 Dec 14;
Koerts J, Tucha L, Leenders KL, Tucha O

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is, apart from the well-known motor symptoms, also characterized by neuropsychological and emotional disturbances. However, patients also often present with a personality profile of low Novelty Seeking and high Harm Avoidance. This profile can be identified as the disease emerges, which raises the question whether these traits correlate with more fundamental neuropsychological and emotional disturbances. This study determined the neuropsychological and emotional correlates of Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance and two other personality traits that are often considered in PD, i.e. Reward Dependence and Persistence. Forty-three patients and 25 healthy participants were assessed with the Temperament and Character Inventory, a symptoms of depression questionnaire and neuropsychological tests. PD patients showed a higher Harm Avoidance than healthy participants, which was predicted by symptoms of depression. Groups did not differ regarding Novelty Seeking, Reward Dependence and Persistence. While cognitive flexibility was a predictor of Reward Dependence, Persistence was predicted by divergent thinking and inhibition. Novelty Seeking was not predicted by cognition or emotion. In conclusion, cognition and emotion are selectively related to personality traits in PD. Whereas Harm Avoidance covaries with emotional symptoms, Persistence and Reward Dependence are related to cognition. Alterations in personality, cognition and emotion in PD are thus not independent from each other.
HubMed – depression

 

Pseudodementia caused by severe depression.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

BMJ Case Rep. 2012; 2012:
Tobe E

The diagnosis of pseudodementia may be difficult in a patient with a history of major depressive disorder. Clinical case history. A 70-year-old man with a history of major depressive disorder, in remission for 3 years, presented with confusion, agitation and cognitive disorder. The differential diagnosis included depression with pseudodementia, drug-induced dementia or Alzheimer disease. Mild cognitive improvement was noted after discontinuation of simvastatin. After 9 months of treatment for depression, the patient had remission that was sustained for >1 year, with mild residual difficulty remembering words of songs. The differential diagnosis of dementia includes major depressive disorder and adverse events from simvastatin.
HubMed – depression

 

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