Clive Ballard – författare

Dementia is a syndrome characterized by cognitive and non-cognitive symptoms. This book focuses on the clinically distinct categories of non-cognitive symptoms. These are grouped together under the umbrella term Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms in Dementia (BPSD). BPSD include agitation (describing a cluster of related symptoms including anxiety, irritability and motor restlessness, often leading to behaviours such as wandering, pacing, aggression, shouting and night-time disturbances), psychosis (referring to three main categories of symptoms: hallucinations, delusions and delusional misidentification) and mood disorders (depression, anxiety and hypomania). Other symptoms include sexual disinhibition, eating problems and abnormal vocalizations (shouting, screaming and demanding attention). There are many reasons why a patient with dementia may develop BPSD. Because of these potential different aetiologies, a full and careful assessment of possible physical, psychological and environmental factors is essential. This book will inform all of those responsible for caring for the patient with dementia about the identification of BPSD, the nature of the symptoms, assessment of their severity and recommends a structured and sequential approach to management. The authors are internationally respected, combining expertise from the fields of clinical research, psychiatry and clinical psychology to provide an integrated approach to the topic.

The second edition of Management of Dementia combines a balanced review of the latest knowledge and research in this area with practical guidance based on the authors'' considerable personal experience in dementia care.

Topics include:

The diagnostic criteria of Parkinson’s disease dementia Approaches to combat behavioural disturbances, depression, psychosis, and agitation Suggestions for overcoming sleep disturbances An update on the many genetic findings in Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies Biological markers of Parkinson’s disease dementia Symptomatic and disease-modifying treatments, including drugs and other potential preventive or stabilizing methods Advice for managing the difficult later stages of dementia in long-term care New assessment scales Management of dementia using primary and secondary prevention Drug treatments for patients with specific causes of dementia Treatments based on an individual’s phenotypic and genetic features

Directed at practitioners who want to practice evidence-based medicine without losing sight of the patient, this volumr is designed to ensure physicians are dispensing the most appropriate pharmacology while also using other non-pharmacological treatments to their optimum effect. Concise and easy to read, the book provides readers with a full knowledge of the evolution of modern dementia care as well as the basis for understanding new developments as they occur.