Depressive pseudodementia: Diagnostic frontiers

Abstract

In the limits between dementia and depression we find a clinical entity in permanent controversy; Depressive Pseudodementia. Depressive pseudodementia is defended by some authors and criticised by others and set us in the diagnostic frontier palced between the cognitive and the affective, between neurology and psychiatry. The entity is not well delimited and reaches diagnostic relevance clinical, evolution and response aspects. In the present issue, we realize a reflection on the term depressive pseudodementia with a review of the scientific literature with special attention in clinical and diagnostic subjets. We conclude that depressive pseudodementia although considering diagnostic limitations is still a valid term in clinical practice, and it eases the approximation, diagnosis and treatment of patients with mixed symptoms of cognitive and depressive type.