Abstract
This chapter describes the eminent works of Paul McHugh who represent a new breed of U.S. psychiatrists interested in understanding the phenomenon of so-called organic disorders of the brain which include the dementias. At the same time, he is also interested in understanding their biological underpinnings. McHugh's knack in dementia began when he observed a case of occult hydrocephalus in an adult patient. He remains interested in the physiology of “drives” and in Huntington's disease. This chapter also discusses the fact that in the development of modern approaches to diagnosis of the dementing disorders of late life, the multifocal insight of Paul McHugh inspired his students to develop a number of questions in order to determine a patient's cognitive status at the bedside or in the doctor's office. In addition to his seminal work on Mini-Mental state examination, Folstein has extensively published works on Huntington's disease and Alzheimer's disease. He reiterates that geriatric psychiatry is a psychiatry in which there is a great deal of treatable suffering occurring and a lot of misunderstanding.
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