K.

E COLLEGE, MANNANAM

ASSIGNMENT

Name of the student : Srujana K Raju

Class No : 3738
Course & Year : Bsc Psychology
3rd Year
Name of teacher : Fr.Johnson Joseph

Subject: Neurocognitive disorders

- Parkinson’s disease
 MAJOR NEUROCOGNITIVE DISORDER

Major cognitive disorders are those that involve marked deficits in cognitive abilities. These
may be apparent in such areas as attention, executive ability, learning and memory, language,
perception, and social cognition.

In older people the onset of cognitive deficit is typically quite gradual.

Early on, the individual is alert and fairly well attuned to event in the environment. Even in the
early stages, however, memory is affected, especially memory for recent events. As time goes
on, patients show increase marked deficit in abstract thinking, the acquisition of new
knowledge or skills, visuospatial comprehension, motor control, problem solving, and
judgment. These are often accompanied by impairments in emotional control and in moral and
ethical sensibilities; for example, the person may engage in crude socializations for sex. Deficits
may be progressive (getting worse over time) or static, but are more often the former.
Occasionally a major neurocognitive disorder is reversible if it has an underlying cause that can
be removed or treated (such as a vitamin deficiency ).

At least 50 different disorders are known to cause the types of cognitive deficits that
are now included in the category of major neurocognitive disorder. They include degenerative
disease such as Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease. Other causes are strokes
infectious diseases such as syphilis, meningitis, and AIDS; intracranial tumors and abscesses;
certain dietary deficiencies (especially of the B vitamins ); severe or repeated head injury;
anoxia; and the ingestion or mercury. The most common cause of major neurocognitive
disorder is degenerative brain disease, particularly Alzheimer’s disease.
DSM-5 CRITERIA

 Evidence of significant cognitive decline from a previous level of performance in one or

more cognitive domains.
1) Concern of the individual, a knowledgeable informant or clinician that there has
been a significant decline in cognitive function; and
2) Substantial impairment in cognitive performance, preferably documented by
standardized neuropsychological testing or, in its absence, another quantified
clinical assessment.
 The cognitive deficits interfere with independence in everyday activities.
 The cognitive deficits do not occur exclusively in the context of a delirium.
 The cognitive deficits are not better explained another mental disorder .

PARKINSON’S DISEASE

Named after James Parkinson, who first described it in 1817, Parkinson’s disease is the second
most common neurodegenerative disorder (after Alzheimer’s disease).It is more often found in
men than women, and it affects between 0.5 and 1 percent of people between ages 65 and 69
and 1 to 3 percent of people over age 80 (Toulouse & Sullivan, 2008). However, the actor
Michael J. Fox developed Parkinson’s disease when he was only 30 year old. His book Lucky
Man (2002) offers a moving personal account of his struggle with the illness and well describe
some of major symptoms.
SYMPTOMS AND CAUSAL FACTORS

Parkinson’s disease is characterized by motor symptoms such as resting tremors or rigid

movements. The underlying cause of this is loss of dopamine neurons in an area of the brain
movement. When dopamine neurons are lost, a person is unable to move in a controlled and
fluid manner. In addition to motor symptoms, Parkinson’s disease can involve psychological
symptoms such as depression, anxiety, apathy, cognitive problems, and even hallucinations and
delusions. Later on in the illness, cognitive deficits may also become apparent. Over time, 25 to
40 percent of patients with Parkinson’s will show signs of cognitive impairment. The causes of
Parkinson’s disease are not clear, although both genetic and environmental factors are
suspected . Genetic factors may be more important in cases where the Parkinson’s disease
develops earlier in life, and environmental factors may be more relevant in later onset causes.
Interestingly, smoking and drinking coffee may provide some protection against the
development of Parkinson’s disease, although the reasons for this remain unclear .

TREATMENT

The symptoms of Parkinson’s disease can be temporarily reduced by medications, such as

pramipexole or levodopa / carbidopa that increase the availability of dopamine in the brain
either directly or indirectly. However, once the medications wear off, the symptoms return.
Another treatment approach that is now being tried is deep brain stimulation. In the future,
stem cell research may also offer some hope for patients with this disease. Until then, however,
exercise should be an important component of treatment. In a recent study, 6 months after
starting an exercise program that involved walking three times a week, patients not only
improved their general level of fitness but also showed gains in motor function, cognitive
abilities, and general quality of life. Findings such as this provide practical approaches that can
be used by large numbers of patients.