People with brain disorders, including Parkinson’s disease and dementia, are often misdiagnosed as having depression, when in fact what they’re experiencing is apathy. This can delay an accurate diagnosis, which has negative outcomes for patients as well as for their families and caregivers.
Apathy and depression may look alike from the outside, but they arise from different neurobiological pathways and have different implications for treatment, functioning and quality of life for those affected.
Understanding and identifying the differences is crucial. My recent research focused on developing a simple assessment tool to differentiate apathy from depression.
