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Cognitive Disorders
 Nature of Cognitive Disorders
 Broad impairments in memory, attention, perception,
and thinking
 Profound changes in behavior and personality
 Three Classes
 Delirium
 Dementia
 Amnesia
Delirium
 Impaired consciousness and cognition
 Impairments develop rapidly over several hours or days
 Examples include confusion, disorientation, attention,
memory, and language deficits
 Medical Conditions Related to Delirium
 Drug intoxication, poisons, withdrawal from drugs
 Infections, head injury, and several forms of brain
trauma
 Sleep deprivation, immobility, and excessive stress
Treatment and Prevention of
Delirium
 Treatment
 Attention to precipitating medical problems
 Psychosocial interventions include reassurance, coping
strategies
Dementia
 Gradual deterioration of brain functioning
 Affects judgment, memory, language, and advanced
cognitive processes
 Dementia has many causes and may be reversible or
irreversible
 Impairments have a marked negative impact on social
and occupational functioning
DSM-IV Classes of Dementia
 Dementia of the Alzheimer’s type
 Vascular Dementia
 Dementia Due to Other General Medical Conditions
 Parkinson’s Disease
 Huntington’s Disease
 Pick’s Disease
 Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
 Substance-Induced Persisting Dementia
 Dementia Due to Multiple Etiologies
 Dementia Not Otherwise Specified
Range of Cognitive Deficits
 Aphasia
 Speech and word usage deficits
 “A-Phrase-ya”
 Apraxia
 Task and coordination deficits
 “A-practice-ya”
 Agnosia/Facial Agnosia
 Recognition deficits
 “I don’t knows ya”
 Executive Function
 Deficits in planning, organizing, sequencing, or abstracting
information
Progression of Dementia
 Initial Stages
 Memory impairment, visuospatial skills deficits
 Agnosia and facial agnosia
 Other symptoms – Delusions, depression, agitation,
aggression, and apathy
 Later Stages
 Cognitive functioning continues to deteriorate
 Person requires almost total support to carry out day-today activities
 Death results from inactivity combined with onset of
other illnesses
Treatment of Dementia
 Medical Treatment: Best If Enacted Early
 Few medical treatments exist for most types of dementia
 Attempt to slow deterioration

Do not actually stop progression of dementia
 Psychosocial Treatments
 Focus on enhancing the lives of dementia patients and their
families/caregivers
 Teach adaptive skills
 Use memory enhancement devices (e.g., memory notebook)
 Main emphasis of psychosocial interventions is on the
caregivers (help caregivers cope and help them help the
patient)
Amnestic Disorder
 Circumscribed loss of memory
 Inability to transfer information into long-term
memory
 No loss of other high-level cognitive functions
 Often results from medical conditions, head trauma,
or long-term drug use
 Research on Amnestic Disorders Is Scant