Abstract:
Dementia is a complex syndrome associated with cognitive, behavioral and psychological symptoms, which
affects the daily life of the whole world, it can be called as a rupture of the patient from society, from the life he
was leading until its appearance, with serious consequences both for himself , as well as for family and society.
It is characterized by executive dysfunction, slowed information processing, memory deficits, and mood and
personality disorders. Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia include changes in behavior,
perception, content of thoughts, as well as mood disorders. These symptoms are commonly found in various
dementia disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson's
disease dementia or frontotemporal dementia. These symptoms not only threaten patients' safety and degrade
their quality of life, but also lead to a burden on family caregivers. Therefore, support is needed for people at
potential risk of dementia living in the community and their families to understand the characteristics of
psychopathological symptoms and to promote early identification of symptoms. To carry out the literature
synthesis study, an advanced search was carried out in the electronic libraries PubMed and Google Scholar,
using keywords: dementia, psychopathology, psychological symptoms. 1800 titles and abstracts were analyzed,
including 150 full-text articles, from 2019 to 2024, in English and Romanian, with open access, literature
synthesis, meta-analysis, research articles. Observational studies report an estimated prevalence of
psychopathological symptomatology in patients with dementia ranging from 25% to 80%. The most commonly
observed symptoms include agitation, apathy, depression, anxiety, and delusions, while disinhibition,
hallucinations, aggression, wandering, and eating disorders are less common. Considering the clinical course of
dementia, irritability, apathy, depression are commonly observed from the early stages of the disease. In
contrast, psychotic symptoms and confusion are more typical of patients in a more advanced stage of
dementia. 1. Early detection of the disease reduces the risk of the appearance of psychopathological symptoms
and improves the quality of life of the patient as well as the family member. 2. The most common symptom of
dementia at diagnosis is apathy/indifference, which is easily overlooked by families, followed by
irritability/lability and depression/dysphoria. 3. Increased use of antipsychotic medications has been associated
with increased psychotic symptomatology in patients with dementia, special care is required regarding patient
prescriptions.
