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Management of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Neurocognitive Disorders
Benalfew Legesse1, Baktash Babadi1, Brent Forester1
1Dr. Legesse is with the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, and Dr. Forester is with the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and the Geriatric Mood Disorders Research Program, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts (e-mail: blegesse@mclean.harvard.edu). Dr. Babadi is with the Swartz Program in Theoretical Neuroscience, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Abstract:
Dementias, renamed neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) in the DSM-5, are defined by acquired decline in cognitive and functional abilities. DSM-5 now also includes mild NCD, which incorporates the previous diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment. DSM-5 recognizes the following etiologies for NCDs: NCD due to Alzheimer's disease, vascular NCD, NCD with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal NCD, substance-/medication-induced NCD, NCD due to traumatic brain injury, NCD due to Huntington's disease, NCD due to HIV infection, NCD due to prion disease, and NCD due to other medical conditions. In this review, the authors discuss a wide variety of interventions that have been studied for the treatment and management of neuropsychiatric symptoms of patients with NCDs. In addition to nonpharmacological interventions, several classes of medications-including antipsychotics, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and cholinesterase inhibitors-have been studied for this indication.
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