New DSM Diagnosis – Changing Our View of Dementia

A task force of mental health experts responsible for updating the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) manual has proposed changes to the way doctors diagnose Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. The task force has proposed...

Dementia Associated with Increased Rate of Hospitalization

A recent study suggests that individuals who have a dementia diagnosis are hospitalized at a rate of 86% compared to 59% for individuals who do not have that diagnosis. Since dementia reduces the ability of an individual to care for themselves, having the disease...

Whitehall II – Cognitive Decline at 45?

All jokes about bureaucrats aside, scientists begin following 5,198 men and 2,192 women in 1997 in what has been called the Whitehall II study, a health-research project that recruited government workers in and around Whitehall in London, England. The individuals who...

Chemo Brain

A study published in the November issue of the Archives of Neurology validated the claims made by patients that they suffered from reduced cognitive function after receiving chemotherapy. The study showed that breast cancer survivors who have been treated with...

Prescribing Mozart

A recent article reported in the Yale Journal of Medicine and Law examined the expanding field of musical therapy. Music therapy is being proposed as a treatment for autism, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease, to name a few. Highly individualized programs...

Caregiver and Care-receiver – Talking About Core Values

A new study from researchers at Pennsylvania State University and the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging finds that caregivers and their relatives who suffer from dementia widely disagree on the amount and quality of care both given and received. The study identified...