Impact of Pathophysiology, and Sociology in Determining the Physical and Mental Health Status - Essay Example

Lucinda’s level of Alzheimer’s disease can be diagnosed by identifying a combination of neurological explanations, behavioral and physical changes, and psychological symptoms (Plotnik and Kouyoumdjian, 2011, p. 47).

The role of psychotherapists is to allow newly diagnosed individuals to effectively deal with their negative feelings whereas the social workers are trained to help patients with Alzheimer’s disease deal with their social problems with their family members, at work, or within the community (Thompson and Bass, 2009). In most cases, psychotherapy can be used to initially diagnose the level of Lucinda’s depression. By referring her to a psychotherapist as one of the clinical interventions for her case, Lucinda and her partner may find it easier to accept and deal with the agitation, anxiety, and depression this couple is going through after knowing that Lucinda is at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Lucinda is having difficulty trying to remember the names of people she worked with every day. For this reason, there is an increased risk wherein Lucinda might end up isolating herself from other people. To avoid making herself or other people feel bad, she made it a habit to cover up some of these occasions from her friends and family members in order to save face.

However, the patient should be informed that there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease (Lu and Bludau, 2011, p. 60). To make it easier for the patient to deal with cognitive, behavioural, social and emotional changes, Lucinda should receive psychological and social intervention to make her understand and be emotionally prepared for other serious physical and mental health changes as the Alzheimer’s diseases progresses to a more advance stage.

To identify the presence of brain damage, either MRI or PET scan can be used. In general, the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the presence of plaques and tangles in the brain. Common among aging individuals, the presence of β-amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), and neuronal cell death are among the main factors that can cause the patients to undergo a neurodegenerative process (Kumer et al., 2010, pp. 1313 – 1317; Jackson-Siegal, 2005). Although these substances can also be found among elderly patients without Alzheimer’s disease, Jackson-Siegal (2005) explained that one of the most unique feature of Alzheimer’s disease is that these plaques and tangles are localized in the brain in parallel to the clinical symptoms. With regards to familial Alzheimer’s disease, mutations on chromosomes 21, 19, 14, 12, and 1 is responsible for these changes (Barlow and Durand, 2012, p. 546; Cummings et al., 1998).

Even though Lucinda is experiencing episodes of worsening and frequent forgetfulness, confusion, and difficulty remembering the names of people she worked with each day; the fact that she can still recognize her partner strongly suggests that she is having a mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease (Jackson-Siegal, 2005). In general, the entorhinal cortex is connected to the hippocampus – responsible for our memory formation, and the cerebral cortex. In the case of Lucinda, her memory loss or the short-term recall can be explained by the presence of atrophy in the cerebral cortex (Fox et al., 2001).