1952

DOI: 10.1192/bjp.98.411.244

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An Attempted Correlation Between Clinical and Psychometric Findings in Senile-Arteriosclerotic Dementia

Philip Pinkerton¹,

Joseph L. Kelly²

Abstract: Recent research from psychological, psychiatric and social viewpoints has emphasized the importance to the whole community of the aged population, and has stressed in particular that the changing proportion of aged to working populations is bringing with it problems of great urgency.

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Differentiation Of Dementia From Senescence3

Discussion1

Organic Psychoses and De-1

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1954

1954

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1966

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Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Secondly, the concurrent psychologic characteristics of recession can be studied, with a special analysis of the relationships to childhood forms and modes of thinking. Some work has been done in this area but it is only a beginning (7–9).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Senile Recession: A Clinical Entity?

1960

J American Geriatrics Society

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At this point in medical history, one problem begins to loom up as a consequence of our conquering the infectious and contagious diseases and establishing better health standards. If during the next two or three decades researchers should succeed in mastering schizophrenia, the viruses, heart disease, cancer, and the major chronic degenerative diseases of the later years, senility may emerge as the major challenge to medical science. In a greatly prolonged life span, senility may, in time, become the chief psychopathologic feature of the human life cycle.One aspect of senility, namely recession, suggests many potentially profitable studies. Most useful for a general framework is Linden and Courtney's concept of the life cycle, especially the very last phases preceding dissolution and death (1). Medical and psychologic theories regarding recession need to be tied to the observation of rea1ity:Since we are still in the early stages of fact gathering, it may be necessary to assemble observations under a few headings, before drawing up working hypotheses.As a working definition, Linden's (2) will be employed:"In recession, the aged person appears to proceed through a series of retrogressive steps through level after level of the infantile development stages all the way back to psychological infantility. In a sense, these are the stages of childhood development up to early adolescence observed in reverse. The last stage of recession is thus the last stage of dementia before death, and corresponds in many ways to foetal and neonatal organization." THE STAGES OF RECESSIONThe following suggested stages of recession constitute a continuous process. Illustrative cases are presented for the purpose of emphasizing the characteristic aspects of each stage. The earlier stages represent psychophysical decline, a turning inward, with a broad ranging from the adult years back to puberty. There is a movement back and forth, involving adult crises, successes and failures. A claim by an older person that he is younger than he actually is, usually means that he has entered into the first stages of recession.Important phases of the process for society would appear to be puberty, and the four-year to eighteen-month stages. The return to the puberty stage probably helps to explain part of one tragic social problem today, that of the old man who sexually molests young children. These actions often take place as adult ego defenses and adaptations break down, and old sexual strivings are temporarily revived.The four-year to eighteen-month stage in a child represents dressing ability, and bowel and bladder control (3). A large part of institutional nursing time goes

“…Secondly, the concurrent psychologic characteristics of recession can be studied, with a special analysis of the relationships to childhood forms and modes of thinking. Some work has been done in this area but it is only a beginning (7–9).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Senile Recession: A Clinical Entity?

1960

J American Geriatrics Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

At this point in medical history, one problem begins to loom up as a consequence of our conquering the infectious and contagious diseases and establishing better health standards. If during the next two or three decades researchers should succeed in mastering schizophrenia, the viruses, heart disease, cancer, and the major chronic degenerative diseases of the later years, senility may emerge as the major challenge to medical science. In a greatly prolonged life span, senility may, in time, become the chief psychopathologic feature of the human life cycle.One aspect of senility, namely recession, suggests many potentially profitable studies. Most useful for a general framework is Linden and Courtney's concept of the life cycle, especially the very last phases preceding dissolution and death (1). Medical and psychologic theories regarding recession need to be tied to the observation of rea1ity:Since we are still in the early stages of fact gathering, it may be necessary to assemble observations under a few headings, before drawing up working hypotheses.As a working definition, Linden's (2) will be employed:"In recession, the aged person appears to proceed through a series of retrogressive steps through level after level of the infantile development stages all the way back to psychological infantility. In a sense, these are the stages of childhood development up to early adolescence observed in reverse. The last stage of recession is thus the last stage of dementia before death, and corresponds in many ways to foetal and neonatal organization." THE STAGES OF RECESSIONThe following suggested stages of recession constitute a continuous process. Illustrative cases are presented for the purpose of emphasizing the characteristic aspects of each stage. The earlier stages represent psychophysical decline, a turning inward, with a broad ranging from the adult years back to puberty. There is a movement back and forth, involving adult crises, successes and failures. A claim by an older person that he is younger than he actually is, usually means that he has entered into the first stages of recession.Important phases of the process for society would appear to be puberty, and the four-year to eighteen-month stages. The return to the puberty stage probably helps to explain part of one tragic social problem today, that of the old man who sexually molests young children. These actions often take place as adult ego defenses and adaptations break down, and old sexual strivings are temporarily revived.The four-year to eighteen-month stage in a child represents dressing ability, and bowel and bladder control (3). A large part of institutional nursing time goes

“…Ackelsberg (3) obtained comparable findings in vocabulary studies of seniles. Recent studies by Pinkerton and Kelly (217) and Hall (113) contrasted deteriorated seniles with children and depressives by the use of various sorting tests and supported the thesis that a loss of conceptual ability occurs early in the course of brain degeneration while more general intellectual test performances remain relatively intact.…”

Section: Organic Psychoses and De-mentioning

confidence: 94%

Psychological consequences of brain lesions and ablations.

1954

Psychological Bulletin

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No abstract

“…The problems involved in testing and the interpretation of test results have been discussed at length in numerous publications (e.g. 24,34). Suffice it to say that dementia imposes certain requirements on test administration procedures if optimal performance is to be elicited.…”

Section: Differentiation Of Dementia From Senescencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Suffice it to say that dementia imposes certain requirements on test administration procedures if optimal performance is to be elicited. Preparatory interviews, encouragement during testing, and brief testing periods are mandatory (34).…”

Section: Differentiation Of Dementia From Senescencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence the difference between these two states is not merely a quantitative one, one of degree, but also a qualitative one; the dementia is essentially different from the normal age decline. Comparison with the performance of children (34) or mental defectives (14) shows that senile dementia is not purely a regression, i.e., a quantitative phenomenon, but that qualitative differences exist between all three groups.…”

Section: Differentiation Of Dementia From Senescencementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Psychometric differences between senile dementia and normal senescent decline.

1954

Canadian Journal of Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologi

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WHILE the literature on senescent decline and problems associated with old age is voluminous (17,21,30), little attention has been paid to the non-dementing psychoses of old age (18, 32). Toxic disorders, early cases of cerebral arteriosclerosis, and in particular the functional disorders of old age, are amenable to treatment, and in general respond more favourably than the senile dementias, where the course is usually one of progressive deterioration. Although he was stressing a broad relationship of age to recovery from psychosis, Clow (as reviewed by Granick, 22) was nonetheless able to state of individuals over 60 years of age: "The organic disturbances showed little improvement, but the functional disorders, particularly the manic-depressives, tended to recover." Not only do they recover following electro-shock treatment and other forms of therapy, but a significant number recover spontaneously. Since these nosological entities are comparable in age, the different response to treatment, or rather the general failure to respond favourably in senile dementia, does not seem purely attributable to the state of old age.In spite of the absence of clear-cut qualitative neuro-anatomical differences in the brain between normal old age and senile dementia, most authorities hold to the view that further research will demonstrate an essential difference between the two states, and that the dementia may be due to a disease process (4, pp. 212-214; 26, pp. 1100-1105; 29, pp. 88-90; 38, pp. 597-599, 40). Runge (38) states that on the basis of evidence to date we are obliged to accept the findings that in senile dementia there is a distinct increase in anatomical changes of a type similar to those found in the brains of normal old people, but that no qualitative differences in this respect have been demonstrated.Neither does the electroencephalograph appear to offer any clear-cut distinction between aging and dementia (10, p. 263). The biochemical studies of Lovett Doust et cd. (31), however, show that the extent of senile dementia exists physiologically along a spectrum of progressive

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