PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN DEMENTIA

The purpose of this overview is to describe the psychological and beha vioral symptoms of dementia reported in the professional literature in recent years. This subject, a relatively neglected one, is considered in order to focus attention on a number of the symptoms most troubles ome to the demented person's surroundings which lead to his/her hospit alization, with all the implications this has on the patients, their f amilies and the community's health budget. To carry our an early and e ffective intervention, professionals need to define and recognize thes e symptoms and gain experience in treating them, either by interventio n in the environment or by medication This survey attempts to examine the state of the art in this field, while analyzing the difficulties t hat emerge in studying it.