Are Alzheimer’s Patients Aware of Their Deficits? BT - Alzheimer’s Disease: A Physician’s Guide to Practical Management

Abstract

It is a common clinical observation that, despite significant and often disabling cognitive dysfunction and impaired self-care abilities, patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) frequently seem to be unaware of their deficits. In some individuals this is manifested simply by a tendency to minimize the significance of their symptoms, while at the opposite extreme, patients may positively deny the most flagrant of clinical deficits. In others, unawareness is apparent from a patient’s actions, even if he or she verbally acknowledges the presence of the illness and its attendant symptoms. It is probable that—at least to some extent—virtually all individuals with established AD exhibit a deficiency in the metacognitive capacity to monitor their own physical and mental state.