Patients With Alzheimer's Disease Observed Blunting Of Emotional Expression

Patients With Alzheimer's Disease Observed Blunting Of Emotional Expression.
Patients with Alzheimer's malady often can seem secluded and apathetic, symptoms frequently attributed to memory problems or strain finding the right words. But patients with the progressive brain disorder may also have a reduced talent to experience emotions, a new study suggests. When researchers from the University of Florida and other institutions showed a petite group of Alzheimer's patients 10 positive and 10 negative pictures, and asked them to pace them as pleasant or unpleasant, they reacted with less intensity than did the group of healthy participants.

And "For the most part, they seemed to sympathize the emotion normally evoked from the picture they were looking at ," said Dr Kenneth Heilman, ranking author of the study and a professor of neurology at the University of Florida's McKnight Brain Institute. But their reactions were distinctive from those of the healthy participants. "Even when they comprehended the scene, their warm reaction was very blunted". The study is published online in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences.

The research participants - seven with Alzheimer's and eight without - made a impression on a piece of paper that had a happy face on one end and a sad one on the other, putting the mark closer to the gratified face the more pleasing they found the picture and closer to the sad face the more distressing. Compared to the vigorous participants, those with Alzheimer's found the pictures less intense.

They didn't find the pleasant pictures (such as babies and puppies) as toothsome as did the healthy participants. They found the negative pictures (snakes, spiders) less negative. "If you have a blunted emotion, males and females will say you look withdrawn". One important take-home implication is for families and physicians not to automatically think a patient with blunted emotions is depressed and appeal for or prescribe antidepressants without a thorough evaluation first.

Exactly why this blunting of emotions may occur isn't known. He speculates there may be a debasement of part of the brain or loss of control of part of the brain noted for experiencing emotion. Or a neurotransmitter important for experiencing emotion may undergo degradation.

What the verdict suggests is that as the memory goes, so does some emotion, said Dr Gary Kennedy, a geriatric psychiatrist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, who reviewed the findings. "Emotion and thought go together. The more sensation you can attach to an event, the more likely you are to remember. I think what this gift-wrap is telling us is that the disease is causing the emotional response to become more and more shallow over time".

Apathy seen in Alzheimer's patients is often reported by kinsfolk members. "Apathy is a heartbreaker for the family". Even so, both Kennedy and Heilman had a outright message for family members. For family, it's not to take it personally if a loved one with Alzheimer's is apathetic. "Don't throw it as being done willfully".

Heilman said families can try to make information more exact when talking to those with Alzheimer's, in an effort to help emotions kick in. If you show a loved one a picture, for instance, give uttered details about the person or object in it, he suggested. You may see less apathy in response pictures. The inquire into was supported in part by Lundbeck Pharmaceutical Co, whose products take in Alzheimer's medicine.