Neurocognitive Disorder

Neurocognitive Disorder (NCD) is an “umbrella” term that was introduced in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Nearly all major NCDs include the dementias (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia) with specifiers of mild, moderate, and severe. Major NCDs are to be distinguished from mild NCDs (e.g. mild NCD due to Parkinson’s or some other medical condition), cognitive disturbance that does not meet criteria for dementia. There are six different cognitive domains affected by NCDs: complex attention, executive function, learning and memory, language, perceptual motor, and social cognition.

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