TREATMENT OF BEHAVIORAL ABNORMALITIES IN DEMENTED PATIENTS WITH CITALOPRAM

Behavioral disturbances are a common complication in dementia The underlying cause of this condition is mainly a disturbance of serotonin neurotransmission. In this paper the effect of citalopram on behavioral disturbances was studied in 20 patients with dementia After 3 weeks of treatment improvement of the symptoms confusion and restlessness of the Gottfries-Brane-Steen Geriatric Scale was found (p < 0.05). These findings underline the effect of citalopram as emotional ''stabilizer'' in demented patients, as already described in earlier studies.