The term “neurocognitive disorders” refers to a set of conditions in which the predominant deficiency is cognitive functioning. The American Psychiatric Association (2013) depicts those neurocognitive disorders emanate from Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s. The typical symptom for all the orders in this category is the victims’ impairment in cognitive functioning and cognitive decline. These disorders are incurable and the individuals should adhere to the prescribed medication in their lifetime.
Disorders
Various neurocognitive disorders are classified based on their etiology, including mild neurocognitive disorder, delirium, and major neurocognitive disorder. The major and mild neurocognitive disorders are further classified into different etiological subtypes based on American Psychiatric Association (2013) as: neurocognitive disorder caused by Alzheimer’s disease, neurocognitive disorder caused by Parkinson’s disease, vascular neurocognitive disorder. Other subtypes are; neurocognitive disorder caused by traumatic brain injury, neurocognitive frontotemporal disorder, neurocognitive caused by HIV infection, neurocognitive induced through medication/ other substances, neurocognitive caused by Huntington’s disease, neurocognitive caused by prion disease, neurocognitive emanating from various etiologies and neurocognitive with Lewy bodies. The primary symptom making the disorder different from others in the category is memory loss. Each diagnosis is distinguished by the type of symptoms depicted by the patient because each disorder has its unique symptoms.
Risk and Prognostic Factors
Individuals with conditions that tend to damage the heart and the blood vessels are at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Such conditions include; hypertension, stroke, and diabetes. Age is also a biological risk factor that may lead to Alzheimer’s disease, where older adults are at high risk compared to youths. The history of the family is the biological factor that may also influence Alzheimer’s disease. The significant prognostic factor for Alzheimer’s disease is the worsening of the patients’ health condition with time. The victims live four to eight years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, as outlined by the American Psychiatric Association (2013), while others live up to 20 years after diagnosis. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, but medication for slowing the symptoms is available.
Feeding and Eating Disorders
The feeding disorder influences the selective consumption of food where a person may not eat certain foods based on texture and color. Individuals with health problems tend to lose weight, and for children, they fail to grow naturally. On the other hand, eating disorders are where individuals tend to develop abnormal eating habits that may entail insufficient or excessive consumption of food, negatively impacting their health. The most common symptom for all the disorders in the category is purging behaviors such as vomiting.
Disorders
Avoidant/ Restrictive Food Intake Disorder entails eating highly selective habits, feeding patterns that are disrupted, or both. Pica is an eating disorder where an individual tends to consume items that are generally not considered food persistently for a month. Rumination disorder is food regurgitation regularly for an individual who may chew it and re-swallow or spit it out. The other disorder in the category is Anorexia Nervosa is where individuals skip meals or even go hungry for some days due to the fear of being fat. An individual often perceives him or herself as fat despite being severely underweight. Bulimia Nervosa is the other disorder within the category where individuals consume huge chunks of food and purge to get rid of excess calories. Self-induced vomiting is the unique symptom that differentiates the disorder from others within the category. Each diagnosis is distinguished by the type of symptoms depicted by the patient because each disorder has its unique symptoms.
Risk and Prognostic Factors
Some of the social risk factors for Anorexia Nervosa include weight concerns where individuals tend to starve themselves to lose weight even if they are of medium weight. Family history of Anorexia Nervosa, obesity where individuals over exercise to lose weight, obsessive-compulsive disorder, affective disorder, addiction to substance abuse, and perfectionism. Some prognostic factors for Anorexia Nervosa include excessive exercise, fasting, abuse of laxatives, and vomiting.
Sleep/Wake Disorders
The sleep/ wake disorders are depicted through disturbed sleep resulting in distress because it hinders adequate functioning of the individuals during the daytime. These disorders commonly cause people to have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking up. The patients need appropriate medication to mitigate the impact of the disorders on their health. Insomnia is the most common sleep/wake disorder for many individuals worldwide compared to others.
Disorders
Substance/ medication-induced sleep disorder, where an individual can hardly sleep unless he or she has taken certain medications, drugs, or use alcohol. Restless legs syndrome which results in uncomfortable or unpleasant sensations in the legs. Insomnia, where the victims experience challenges in falling or staying asleep. Hypersomnolence, where individuals develop excessive sleepiness. Narcolepsy, a rare long-term brain disorder that leads people to fall asleep at inopportune moments. Breathing-related sleep disorders that are depicted through abnormal respiration for individuals during sleep. Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorder, characterized by the inability to fall asleep and waking up throughout the sleep. Non-rapid eye movement sleep arousal, characterized by partial arousal as the individuals’ sleep. Nightmare disorder where individuals have bad dreams. Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder marked by dream-enactment actions. The typical symptom that differentiates the disorder from the rest is the failure to sleep by the individuals. Each diagnosis is distinguished by the type of symptoms depicted by the patient because each disorder has its unique symptoms.
Risk and Prognostic Factors
Some of the social risk factors for insomnia include; night shift work where the individuals tend to lose their sleeping patterns. The other aspect is the lifestyle behaviours where individuals are addicted to caffeine and other stimulants that may impact there sleeping patterns negatively. With advanced age individuals tend to develop multiple health complications that affect their sleeping patterns. Some prognostic factors for insomnia include depression, bipolar disorder, work pressure, and marriage problems.
Reference
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).