Diagnoses of different types of “neurocognitive disorders” include:

• Delirium
• Dementia (Major Cognitive Disorder)
• Mild Neurocognitive Disorder
• Neurocognitive Disorder due to Alzheimer’s Disease
• Frontotemporal Neurocognitive Disorder
• Neurocognitive Disorder with Lewy Bodies
• Vascular Neurocognitive Disorder
• Neurocognitive Disorder due to Traumatic Brain Injury
• Substance/Medication-Induced Neurocognitive Disorder
• Neurocognitive Disorder due to HIV Infection
• Neurocognitive Disorder due to Prion Disease
• Neurocognitive Disorder due to Huntington’s Disease
• Amnestic Disorder (Amnesia)
• Neurocognitive Disorder due to Another Medical Condition (e.g., multiple sclerosis, cerebrovascular diseases, chronic alcoholism)
• Neurocognitive Disorder due to Multiple Causes
• Unspecified Neurocognitive Disorder

What is Delirium?

Most often occurring in elderly adults, delirium is an impairment of consciousness, marked by a disturbance in attention and awareness. A life-threatening yet potentially reversible disorder of the central nervous system (CNS), delirium often involves perceptual disturbances, abnormal psychomotor activity, ad sleep cycle impairment. The condition develops over a short period of time (usually hours to a few days)and tends to fluctuate in severity during the course of a day. Cognition is also impaired, which can include memory problems, disorientation, language difficulties, or impairment of visuospatial ability and perception. The symptoms are not better explained by another preexisting or evolving neurocognitive disorder. Major causes of delirium include CNS disease (e.g., epilepsy), systemic disease (e.g., cardiac failure), and either intoxication or withdrawal from pharmacological or toxic agents.

 Substance intoxication delirium may be caused by alcohol, cannabis, phencyclidine, opioids, inhalants, sedatives, hypnotics, anxiolytic drugs, amphetamines, cocaine, or other substances.