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Educational Activity

Diagnosing Dementia-Related Psychosis: Using Tools and Communicating With Patients and Caregivers

Clive Ballard, MBChB, MMedSci, MRCPsych, MD

Published: December 1, 2020

This CME activity is expired. For more CME activities, visit CMEInstitute.com.
Find more articles on this and other psychiatry and CNS topics:
The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders

 
Psychosis is common in patients with dementia; therefore, clinicians should carefully evaluate psychotic symptoms reported by patients or their caregivers. A variety of tools exist for the diagnosis of DRP, such as the Neuropsychiatric Inventory and new diagnostic criteria. It is important to talk with patients and caregivers about the impact of DRP on well-being, their level of distress (and patients’ insight), the potential risks of medication to treat DRP, and the potential course of DRP because, then, it is possible for people to contribute knowledgably to discussions of the best treatment options. Certain techniques can help clinicians communicate with patients and carers about DRP symptomology and appropriate care strategies.

To cite: Ballard C. Diagnosing dementia-related psychosis: using tools and communicating with patients and caregivers. J Clin Psychiatry. 2021;82(1):AD19038BR3C.
To share: https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.AD19038BR3C

© Copyright 2020 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.

From the University of Exeter College of Medicine and Health, UK


Volume: 82

Quick Links: Dementia , Neurologic and Neurocognitive

References