Discussion 5A

Extract

Several investigators have examined the relationship between a patient's premorbid personality and behavioral disturbances of dementia. Dr. Swearer described a study in which she examined whether premorbid personality was a predictor of disordered behaviors in dementia. Specifically, she considered whether premorbid aggression predicted subsequent aggressive behaviors, whether premorbid suspiciousness predicted disordered ideation, and whether premorbid restlessness predicted hyperkinesia. She found a relationship only between premorbid aggression and subsequent dementia-related aggressive behaviors. However, this finding appeared to be due to recall bias of caregivers of patients who were aggressive at the time of evaluation. This suggests that premorbid personality traits do not predispose to subsequent behavioral disturbances in dementia. On the other hand, in retrospective analyses, Drs. Whitehouse and Strauss and colleagues have found that premorbid personality predicts subsequent psychopathology.