Wednesday, August 13

Understanding Depression and Related Syndromes in Medical Populations

Mark Alfano, PhD, APBB
Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital

Depression is a construct, rather than a thing in nature. While the criteria for depression are relatively well worked out in psychiatric populations, the issue of assessing depression in other populations, especially medical and neurological populations, is more problematic. Dr. Alfano, a board-certified neuropsychologist, will discuss conceptualization and current research findings on depression and other related clinical entities in medical patients.

At the end of this program participants will be able to:

• Demonstrate understanding of the limitations of traditional concepts of depression in medical and neurological populations.
• Identify other neurobehavioral syndromes similar to depression in medical populations.
• Understand differential diagnostic considerations for depression in medical patients.
• Be familiar with several assessment tools for depression in medical populations.

Dr. Alfano is currently Lead Psychologist at Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital and Assistant Research Psychologist at the University of California at Los Angeles Neuropsychiatric Institute. He has several publications on depression in neurological populations.