Dementia Due to Pick's Disease Symptoms and DSM-IV Diagnosis

Dementia Due to Pic's Disease Symptoms and Diagnosis Overview:

Dementia Due to Pick's Disease symptoms and diagnostic criteria follow below. While some of these Dementia Due to Pick's Disease symptoms may be recognized by family, teachers, legal and medical professionals,  and others, only  properly trained mental health professionals (psychologists, psychiatrists, professional counselors etc.) can or should even attempt to make a mental health diagnosis. Many additional factors are considered in addition to the Dementia Due to Pick's Disease symptoms in making proper diagnosis, including frequently medical and psychological testing considerations. This information on Dementia Due to Pick's Disease symptoms and diagnostic criteria are for information purposes only and should never replace the judgement and comprehensive assessment of a trained mental health clinician. 

290.10 Dementia Due to Pick's Disease

The essential feature of Dementia Due to Pick's Disease is the presence of a dementia that is judged to be the direct pathophysiological consequence of Pick's disease. Pick's disease is a degenerative disease of the brain that particularly affects the frontal and temporal lobes. As in other frontal lobe dementias, Pick’s Disease is characterized clinically by changes in personality early in the course, deterioration of social skills, emotional blunting, behavioral disinhibition, and prominent language abnormalities Difficulties with memory, apraxia, and other features of dementia usually follow later in the course. Prominent primitive reflexes (snout, suck, grasp) may be present. As the dementia progresses, it may be accompanied by either apathy or extreme agitation. Individuals may develop such severe problems in language, attention, or behavior that it may be difficult to assess their degree of cognitive impairment. Structural brain  imaging typically reveals prominent frontal and/or temporal atrophy, and functional imaging may localize frontotemporal hypometabolism, even in the absence of structural atrophy. The disorder most commonly manifests itself in individuals between ages 50 and 60 years, although it can occur among older individuals. Pick's disease is one of the pathologically distinct etiologies among the heterogeneous group of dementing processes that are associated with frontotemporal brain atrophy. The specific diagnosis of a frontal lobe dementia such as Pick's disease is usually established by autopsy with the pathological finding of characteristic intraneuronal argentophilic inclusion bodies. Clinically, Pick's disease often cannot be distinguished with certainty from atypical cases of Alzheimer's disease or from other dementias that affect the frontal lobes.

Information from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV

Also, See other Diagnosis and Symptoms of Delirium, Dementia, and Amnestic and Other Cognitive Disorders

Other Mental Health Diagnostic Symptoms and Criteria  

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