Dementia and Movement Disorders

Although mental confusion in patients is more apparent than real, most patients do eventually develop some degree of mental impairment.  Some are mislabeled as having Alzheimer's disease, which is not very different from the situation with Parkinson's disease.  An important aspect of dementia affecting PSP and CBD patients is apathy.  Patients seem to lose interest in their surroundings, creating the impression of loss of thinking ability and interfering with family interactions.

In PSP, the dementia, if it does occur, does not feature the memory problem that is so apaprent in Alzheimer's disease.  Rather the dementia is characterized by slowed thought and difficulty synthesizing several different ideas into a new idea or plan.  These mental functions are performed mostly by the front part of the brain (the frontal lobes).

There is mild-to-moderate cognitive impairment in CBD (dementia, memory loss, difficulty planning or executing unrehearsed movement), and patients are usually initially diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

Although, an erroneous impression of senility or dementia can be created because of the patients combination of speech difficulty, slight forgetfulness, slow (albeit accurate) mental response, personality change, apathy and poor eye contact.

More information about dementia can be found on the Association for Frontotemporal Dementia website.  The AFTD is a non-profit organization that provides excellent information and resources about dementia, including dementia associated with CBD and PSP.