ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the reader is adept and comfortable with descriptive, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) interviewing and diagnostic assessment. It describes the DSM-5 created the neurocognitive disorder (NCD) terminology for the disorders. The clinical assumption is that these symptoms may respond to psychopharmacologic interventions just as if these symptoms were due to the separate psychiatric disorder. The formal DSM-5 diagnosis has been divided into mild versus severe subtypes. More severe Traumatic brain injury can present with initial delirium, a full syndromal psychiatric disorder, or develop into a dementia. Mild NCD suggests there is mild impairment but the patient is capable of safely functioning in society. Major NCD is much more significant and impairing. The chapter provides a greater depth of neuroscience and pharmacodynamic knowledge to the reader. Patients with NCD typically are poor historians, so prescribers must enlist family and other caregivers to obtain up-to-date information about ongoing symptoms and side effects.
