Cognitive Deficits in Mood Disorders: Role and Contradictions in Psychiatry

The principal aim of this work is to reflect about the assessment and management of cognitive deficits in psychiatric disorders, and, particularly, in mood disorders (MDD and BD). The current trend of research and clinical practice is to give more importance to cognitive dysfunctions in psychiatric disorders. There are numerous studies that highlighted the cognitive alterations as the core deficit in MDD and BD, observed across several domains (e.g., executive function, working memory, attention). There are also numerous tools that allow the identification of these cognitive deficits, as well as assessment tools. But are these, really, effective and usable in daily clinical practice? Are they accepted by patients? Could relying only these tools run the risk of forgetting the good clinical practice? Can the doctor-patient (or HCW-patient) relationship and deepening of psychopathological aspects to be marginalized? These and other considerations are carried out in this work.