Memory & Geriatric Neuropsychiatry

Compassionate Geriatric Neuropsychiatry in Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Charlotte, NC

There is a wide variety of degenerative neurological disorders that can afflict senior citizens. The effects can range from mild cognitive problems to dementia and dramatic behavioral changes. While it's never easy to witness the mental decline of a beloved elder member of your family, there is help you can turn to to mitigate the effects. At NC Neuropsychiatry Attention & Memory Centers, we provide comprehensive geriatric neuropsychiatry to provide measurable relief through medical and therapeutic treatment as well as intervention and supervision.

Common syndromes addressed are Depression (a fixed and severe negative emotional state), Dementia (a loss of intellectual ability that is often progressive) and Delirium (rapidly developing confusion often due to a general physical illness). The neuropsychiatrist uses formal testing of cognition (how information is stored and processed in the brain) in combination with a focused neurological exam and laboratory studies (e.g., bloodwork and images of the brain) to diagnose and manage the behavior changes seen in conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Stroke, Parkinson’s Disease, and Traumatic Brain Injury.

These conditions can often be accompanied by frightening hallucinations, delusional beliefs, aggression, and sleep/wake disruption. Often these behavioral changes are the most concerning issues for family members and can escalate to a crisis situation if not addressed early on.

Several medication options are available with variable benefits depending on their specific indication, however, removal of offending medications when possible can often be just as helpful. Increased supervision and modification of the living environment are often needed, but these interventions can be limited by community and financial resources.

Beyond a certain degree of impairment, the patient themselves can lose a rational awareness of their situation. This makes ongoing collaboration between the caregiver, family members, and physician even more essential as efforts to clarify therapeutic goals and maximize quality of life are made.

Patients who have dementia oftentimes have depressive symptoms, irritability, agitation, and delusions, and we can help those patients with medication management. We can also help the underlying memory problem with medications and cognitive training. Our physicians are actively involved in research about memory disorders, and have presented at major conferences such as the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD).

Besides Alzheimer’s, there are lesser known types of dementia such as Lewy Body Dementia, vascular dementia, and frontotemporal dementia. These types of dementia often respond differently to medications, and they progress differently from Alzheimer’s. It is important to have evaluation and management at a specialty clinic like ours with physicians trained to evaluate for, and treat these more unusual dementias

If a loved one is suffering from dementia, call us at (919) 537-2561.