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Atypical social cognitive processing in premotor Huntington’s disease: a single case study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2015

T. Burke ,
D. Healy ,
P. Casey ,
O. Hardiman  and
N. Pender
T. Burke*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, Ireland Academic Unit of Neurology, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
D. Healy
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, Ireland
P. Casey
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
O. Hardiman
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Neurology, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Department of Neurology, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, Ireland
N. Pender
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, Ireland Academic Unit of Neurology, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Department of Psychology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
*
*Address for correspondence: T. Burke, Department of Psychology, Lower Ground Floor, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, Ireland. (Email: burket2@tcd.ie)
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Abstract

Background

We report the case of a 52-year-old male with pre-motor Huntington’s disease (HD) who has undergone detailed clinical and neuropsychological examination. This patient’s negative symptomatology and behavioural change are having a detrimental impact on his social, occupational and interpersonal life, in the absence of motor symptoms.

Methods

The patient has undergone repeat neuropsychological testing (T1 aged 50; T2 aged 52) with particular focus on executive function and social cognition on repeat testing.

Results

This case details a specific manifestation of HD relating to behavioural, psychiatric and social affective deficits.

Conclusions

This case illustrates how social cognitive changes can occur in HD, months and even years prior to the onset of motor features and how such unrecognized deficits can have a deleterious impact on an individual’s functional ability and lifestyle, before the disease is traditionally considered to have become manifest.

Keywords

Affect deficitempathyHuntington’s diseasesocial-cognition
Type
Case Report
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , March 2017 , pp. 53 - 58
Copyright
© College of Psychiatrists of Ireland 2015 

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