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‘IMPAIRED JUDGEMENT’ A USEFUL SYMPTOM OF DEMENTIA?
Author(s) -
HEAD L.,
BERRIOS G. E.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199609)11:9<779::aid-gps388>3.0.co;2-s
Subject(s) - judgement , dementia , psychology , gerontology , medicine , psychiatry , disease , philosophy , epistemology
‘Impaired judgement’ remains a diagnostic (and predictive) criterion for delirium, dementia and substance‐related disorders, and yet its diagnosis and measurement are hampered by the absence of an operational definition. Most of the important research into judgement as a psychological function has been carried out in developmental and industrial psychology, in the experimental analysis of perception, medical diagnosis and legal decision‐making. Models generated in these fields, although important, are only tangentially relevant to ‘impaired judgement’ as it is met with in clinical practice. This article explores some models of judgement and their application to dementia. It concludes that judgement is not a unitary function but a composite of subroutines. Hence, both low‐ and high‐level analyses are required: the former to explore aetiology, differential diagnosis and treatment, the latter for the assessment of psychosocial competence. A model for the understanding of judgement is also suggested.