Neuropsychology of late-life psychoses

The number of published neuropsychological studies of older psychiatric patients have been few. Moreover, almost nothing is known about the neuropsychological status of older individuals who develop psychotic symptoms for the first time later in life. Because of the spectrum of possible diagnostic considerations, careful diagnostic evaluations are of critical importance. Such evaluations should include comprehensive history-taking (using several sources), in addition to medical, psychiatric, neurologic, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological assessments. As the number of older individuals in our population grows, we will be increasingly faced with neuropsychiatric disorders that may arise de novo in the elderly. Multimodal and longitudinal investigations of older patients who develop psychotic or depressive symptoms are needed.