Dear doctor, My mother (80 years old) got a hemiparalysis attack last week. She has developed a mental disorder. She feels and talks as she were in her twenties. Kindly diagnose.
Hi. Stroke in elderly people, especially resulting in residual weakness, paralysis or other motor sensory deficits, invariably leads to a major depressive episode that may not improve on its own. Silliness, childishness, and immature behaviors are consistent with mental regression that accompanies depression in elderly people. A prompt evaluation by a psychiatrist followed by antidepressant medication is recommended. One other thing, caregivers of such stroke-afflicted depressed elderly patients are also prone to get depressed.