Putting It Together: Neurocognitive Disorders

Considering all that you have learned during this module, you now are more aware of the different neurocognitive disorders.

Neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) are a category of mental health disorders that primarily affect cognitive abilities including learning, memory, perception, and problem-solving. Neurocognitive disorders include delirium and mild and major neurocognitive disorder (previously known as dementia). They are defined by deficits in cognitive ability that are acquired (as opposed to developmental), typically represent decline, and may have an underlying brain pathology. These are the main types of disorders we discussed in this module, although the neuro part of the definition correctly implies that there is a neurological cause for the disorder, so the terms have some overlapping.