THE DEMENTING DISORDERS

Dementing disorders are found most commonly in the elderly. However, t he approaches derived from the diagnosis and management of these patie nts exemplify principles which can equally well be applied to the mana gement of psychiatric disorders in younger patients. These principles include the process of syndromic diagnosis, the need for multi-dimensi onal assessment, the recognition of the interaction of biological and psyche-social factors in the etiology and treatment of psychiatric sym ptoms and the crucial role of the family in the management of patients with dementia. In this paper these principles are discussed.