Compare and contrast major or mild neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease versus major or mild frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder. Discuss the role of comprehensive assessment in the differential diagnosis, with emphasis on how you would approach this assessment. Include a discussion of the contrast of the DSM-5 criteria and how it can help you to distinguish between these two conditions. Be sure to include ethical/legal considerations in your response.

Major or mild neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by cognitive deficits directly related to the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s Dementia. AD is diagnosed in people experiencing progressive cognitive dysfunction due to the incursion of beta-amyloid plaques. Additionally, neurofibrillary tangles in cholinergic neurons. This condition develops in people aged between the fifties and sixties while the symptoms stay on up to the eighties and nineties.

Major neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease

This condition is characterized by a decline in memory and learning and at least one other cognitive domain, family history, and gradual decline in cognition. To diagnose this condition, there should be clear evidence of a decline in memory and learning. There should also be absence of another neurodegenerative disease. The risk factors include age, genetic predisposition, down’s syndrome, and traumatic brain injury.

NCD is a family of early, primary neurodegenerative disorders affecting the frontal and temporal lobes primarily. The condition is slowly progressing, meaning it gets worse with time. The disorders associated with NCD include Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and Lewy body disease. Most of these conditions do not develop until people are over 65 years. The symptoms include a decline in cognitive performance in areas such as attention, language, executive function, motor skills, learning and memory, and social cognition. Individuals with this condition may also lack social tact, lack empathy, be easily distracted, and experience changes in food preferences. APA