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Aim: The aim of the study was an analysis of the efficacy, the progress and the structure of disturbances of the visuospatial learning process in patients with dementia, depression and ageing. 96 people were examined altogether. Each of the tested groups was of the same size--32 patients with dementia, depression and ageing., Method: The following tools were applied: Global Deterioration Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Hamilton Depression Scale, Diagnostics of Cerebral Injuries (Weidlich, Lamberti), MMSE--subscales: Information, Vocabulary, Comprehension of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale., Results: Their retrieval process was most disturbed in patients with dementia. Tendency to forget turned out to be the greatest in patients with dementia. In the course of the learning process in patients with dementia, the recency effect dominated. In patients with ageing and depression one did not observe relative superiorities of the primary effect or of the recency effect. Patients with depression and ageing did not differ in the general number of errors and the number of each kind of errors. Confabulations, perseverations, reversals in the recoil trials and confabulations in the delayed recognition trial turned out to be characteristic for patients with dementia., Conclusions: Patients with dementia and patients with depression were characterized by different efficacy, progress and structure of disturbances of the learning process. In all the examined groups there were characteristic interdependencies between efficacy, progress and structure of disturbances of the learning process.

Authors have analysed 120 inpatients who committed suicidal attempt. Diagnoses in 83 women and 37 men aged between 14 and 73 years according to DSM-V classification were analysed. Patients aged between 14 and 27 constituted 60%, while those more than 28 years old 40% of suicidal attempts. In the outcome of diagnoses the analysis showed that because of psychotic and nonpsychotic mental disturbances among them, patients after suicidal attempt needed scrutinised psychiatric and psychological evaluation. In consulted patients the clinical diagnoses distinguished: conversive reaction (54%), endogenous depression, dysthymic depression, personality disturbances characteropathic type and adolescent crises. Endogenous and dysthymic depression were predominantly found in persons above 28th, they constituted 26% of all diagnosed patients. In particular age groups no characteristic psychopathological diagnoses were found. The diagnosis of characteropathic type of personality disturbances was distributed most regularly.

The thesis aims to answer the questions about the profile of mental ability in endogenous depression and to decide whether self-estimation of depressive symptoms influences the results achieved by patients in memory tests. Fifty six patients suffering from endogenous depression have been examined. The following methods have been applied: Mini Mental State Examination, Benton Visual Retention Test, Beck Depression Inventory, hold tests: Vocabulary, Information, Comprehension and Digit Span of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure, Auditory Verbal Learning Test, DCS Weidlich. General status of cognitive functions correlates with the profile of specific kinds of memory results, particularly with delayed memory. Self-estimation of depressive symptoms intensity is mostly influenced by memory capacity, visuomotorial factor, functions of perception and lingual factor. High correlation between verbal and non verbal learning shows uniform influence of depression on the process of learning.

Memory complaints are a common symptom among hospitalized depressed and brain damaged patients. In present work we attempted to identify factors that affected the severity and character of these complaints. 21 hospitalized psychiatric patients with diagnosis of major depressive disorder, and 21 patients with diffuse brain damage, participated in the study. They completed self-reported memory questionnaire, mood questionnaire and performed on neuropsychological memory tests. There were lower performance results on several memory tests in results the brain damaged group but no between-groups difference was found the in self-reported memory questionnaire. The results suggest that different factors contributed to subjectively experienced memory problems in each group. Current mood state and immediate memory deficit were the most important predictors in the depressed group. In brain damaged patients, memory complaints the were associated with delayed story recall problems and learning deficit.