Rethinking Psychosis in Dementia: An Analysis of Antecedents and Explanations

Jiska Cohen-Mansfield*, Hava Golander, Rinat Cohen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

An in-depth analysis of qualitative data regarding antecedents, consequences, and descriptions of delusions of persons with dementia (PwD) provided by family caregivers is presented. Three broad classifications of reasons given behind types of delusions are included, namely environmental factors, personal factors, and dementia, with dementia being the most prominent factor. We observed an overlap between known cognitive symptoms of dementia and the characteristics of the reported "delusions" in dementia. It therefore appears that what is often classified as a delusion of a seemingly psychotic nature is in fact the PwD's disorientation combined with an attempt to fill in gaps caused by cognitive deficiencies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)265-271
Number of pages7
JournalAmerican Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and other Dementias
Volume32
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Aug 2017

Funding

FundersFunder number
Minerva Foundation
Israel Science Foundation1067/07
Ministry of Health, State of Israel3000004003

    Keywords

    • aging
    • caregivers
    • dementia
    • psychosis

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