[Depressive syndromes and dementia: clinico-anamnestic study]

The authors report the early psychiatric disturbances in a group of patients, within two years before onset of neurological signs of dementia both of vascular and degeneratarive type. A high incidence of psychiatric impairment, mainly endogenous-like affective disorders has been pointed but particularly in patients who would be affected by atrophic dementia. The hypothesis of a single mechanism, supporting both affective disorders and dementia is discussed. An alternative hypothesis the neuronal degeneration away be one of the several factors disclosing a constitutional predisposition to depression, is taken into account.