IUBio

WHAT IS A DEMENTIA CLINIC?

F. Frank LeFever flefever at ix.netcom.com
Mon Apr 28 22:22:11 EST 1997


Just to make sure nobody misses it, Jammes Woodson did not write this
absurd query; he wrote the response, which is a reasonable suspicion.
This person directly e-mailed me a response to my response to a query
about left neglect (not quite an appropriate response: as one who has
presented research on left neglect to American Academy of Neurology and
to the International Neuropsychological Society, I would not seek out
stroke association websites for info on this; I had recommended some
basic reading of recent articles as a starting point).

Neither then nor in this posting does this person identify him/herself.
The address coyly suggests the person is a neuropsychologist, which is
almost certainly not true--unless this is an agent provacateur or
someone "researching" public ignorance about dementia.

At the very least, a dementia clinic should address itself to
diagnosis, which would include a good medical history as well as a
neuropsychological assessment.  Some dementias are real, some are not
(e.g. the pseudodementia of depression).  Some are static, some
progress (e.g. multi-infarct vs. Alzheimers) (albeit with untreated 
underlying conditions, infarcts may repeat)  Some are treatable, some
are not (e.g. metabolically/pharmacologically based vs. progressive
neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, Pick's, etc., etc.)

Prognosis as well as specific cognitive/emotional/behavioral problems
will vary depending on the diagnosis.

Of course, if it is just one more scam as hospitals scramble for fewer
and fewer dollars, what does it matter?

I urge "neurocyk" ("neuro-sick"?) to identify him/herself, if not by
name and hospital, then at least in terms of profession; and explain
why the hospital has entrusted him/her with something he/she is clearly
not competent to deal with.


F. Frank LeFever, Ph.D.
Pres., New York Neuropsychology Group


In <v03102801af8392b0e4cb@[164.67.14.19]> jwoodson at ucla.edu (James
Woodson) writes: 
>
>>I'm on a committee which has been asked to set up a dementia clinic
at our
>>hospital.  No one on the committee is particularly sure as to what
such an
>>animal is.  Any suggested resources?
>
>Is this a joke?
>
>
>James C. Woodson* - Behavioral Neuroscience
>U.C.L.A. Dept. of Psychology, Franz Hall
>405 Hilgard Ave.
>Los Angeles, CA  90095
>
>  "While intelligence as we know it may be subject to certain limits,
>ignorance is apparently under no such constraint." - James Woodson
>
>
>* Research in mechanisms and loci of sexual differentiation of the
brain,
>motivated responding, developmental interactions between nerve growth
>factors and endogenous gonadal steroids, evolutionary psychology, &
learned
>helplessness.  All opinions expressed are mine alone, and do not
reflect
>those of the University of California, Los Angeles.
>
>




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