Differential diagnosis
- neurotic illness or a personality problem easily be mistaken when it presents as apathy and failing motivation, or agitated and demanding behaviour, or hypochondriacal complaints.
- dementia - the patient may present with impairment of concentration and memory loss which may be dismissed as demented.(1)
- primary paranoid illness may be considered if the patient has depressive delusional ideas.
- alcoholism is an important feature to rule out
- grief - this is an inherent trait of the human experience and should not be interpreted as a major depressive episode unless it fulfils clinical depression criteria.
Reference
- Byers AL, Yaffe K. Depression and risk of developing dementia. Nat Rev Neurol. 2011 May 03;7(6):323-31
Create an account to add page annotations
Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.